Hindu Temples What Happend To Them By Sita Ram Goel

HINDU TEMPLES

WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM ?
VOLUMES 1 AND 2

Volumes 1
A Preliminary Survey

ARUN SHOURIE
HARSH NARAIN
JAY DUBASHI
RAM SWARUP
SITA RAM GOEL

Voice of India, New Delhi

Contents

Preface

1. Hideaway Communalism

2. The Tip of An Iceberg

3. Some Historical Questions

4. In the Name of Religion

5. A Need to Face the Truth

6. Historians Versus History

7. November 9 Will Change History

8. From Shilanyas to Berlin Wall

9. Rama-Janmabhumi Temple Muslim Testimony

10. Let the Mute Witnesses Speak

Appendix

Preface

The movement for the restoration of the Ramajanmabhumi Temple at Ayodhya has
brought to the fore a suppressed chapter of Indians history, namely, the large-scale
destruction of Hindu temples 1 by the Islamised invaders. This chapter is by no means
closed. The Appendix to this book provides details of many temples destroyed by
Muslims all over Bangladesh as recently as October-November 1989. Currently,
temples, or whatever had remained of them, are meeting a similar fate in the Kashmir
valley.

This chapter, however, though significant, was only a part of the Muslim behaviour-
pattern as recorded by Muslim historians of medieval India. The other parts were: 1)
mass slaughter of people not only during war but also after the armies of Islam had
emerged victorious; 2) capture of large numbers of non-combatant men, women and
children as booty and their sale as slaves all over the Islamic world; 3) forcible
conversion to Islam of people who were in no position to resist; 4) reduction to the status
of zimmis or non-citizens of all those who could not be converted and imposition of
inhuman disabilities on them; 5) emasculation of the zimmis by preventing them from
possessing arms; 6) impoverishment of the zimmis through heavy discriminatory taxes
and misappropriation of a major part of what the peasants produced; 7) ruination of the
native and national culture of the zimmis by suppressing and holding in contempt all its
institutions and expressions.

Nor is this behaviour pattern a thing of the past. It persisted even after the Muslim rule
was over. The Muslim revivalist movements in the nineteenth century, particularly in
Bengal, tried to repeat, as far as they could, the performance of the medieval Muslim
swordsmen and sultans. More recently, after the Islamic state of Pakistan was carved out,
Hindus have been forced to leave their ancestral homes, en masse from its western wing
and in a continuous stream of refugees from its eastern wing, now an independent Islamic
state of Bangladesh that came into being with the help of India. Hindu temples and other
cultural institutions have more or less disappeared from Pakistan, while they continue to
be under constant attack in Bangladesh.

How to understand this behaviour pattern so persistently followed over a thousand years
under very different conditions and so consistent in its expression? What is its deeper
ideological source?

It is rooted in Islam^s religious teachings, its theology and its religious laws; it derives
from its peculiar conception of momins and kafirs, from its doctrines of Jihad, Daru^l-

Islam and Daru^l-harb, and from what it regards as the duty of a Muslim state. Hindu
India is called upon to make a deeper study of Islam than it has hitherto done. It can
neglect this task at its own peril.

The present volume makes no pretence of presenting such a study, but by choice restricts
itself mainly to the study of Hindu temples destroyed and desecrated and converted into

mosques and khanqahs without overlooking Muslims^ ideology of iconoclasm; here and
there, it also mentions other theological props and concomitants of the iconoclastic
ideology. In the book Ayodhya retain its importance, but it does not occupy the centre of
discussion. In dealing with its subject, it exercises complete fidelity to truth; unlike
secularist and Marxist writers, it does not believe in re-writing and fabricating history. Its
aim is to raise the informational level of our people and to make them better aware of the
more persistent ideological forces at work.

Mahavira Jayanti.

April 7, 1990

Publisher

Chapter One

Hideaway Communalism

Arun Shourie

A case in which the English version of a major book by a renowned Muslim scholar, the fourth
Rector of one of the greatest centres of Islamic learning in India, listing some of the mosques,
including the Babri Masjid, which were built on the sites and foundations of temples, using their
stones and structures, is found to have the tell-tale passages censored out;

The book is said to have become difficult to get;

It is traced: And is found to have been commanded just 15 years a-o by the most influential living
Muslim scholar of our country today, the current Rector of that great centre of Islamic learning, and
the Chairman of the Muslim Personal Law Board.

Evasion, concealment, have become a national habit. And they have terrible consequences. But first
I must give you some background.

The Nadwatul-Ulama of Lucknow is one of the principal centres of Islamic learning in India. It was
founded in 1894. It ranks today next only to the Darul-Ulum at Deoband. The government

publication. Centres of Islamic Learning in India , recalls how the founders Maimed at producing capable
scholars who could project a true image of Islam before the modern world in an effective way ^; it recalls

how ^Towards fulfilling its avowed aim in the matter of educational reform, it (the group) decided to
establish an ideal educational institution which would not only provide education in religious and temporal
sciences but also offer technical training^; it recalls how ^It (the Nadwa) stands out today-with its

college, a vast and rich library and Research and Publication Departments housed in fine buildings-as one
of the most outstanding institutions for imparting instruction in the Islamic Sciences^; it recalls how ^ A

salient feature of this institution is its emphasis on independent research^; it recalls how ^The library of
the Nadwa, housed in the Central Hall and the surrounding rooms of the main building, is, with more than
75,000 titles including about 3,000 handwritten books mostly in Arabic and also in Persian, Urdu, English

etc., one of the finest libraries of the sub-continent.^ That was written 10 years ago. The library now has
125,000 books.

Its Head

Today the institution is headed by Maulana Abul-Hasan Ali Nadwi. Ali Mian, as he is known to one and
all, is almost without doubt the most influential Muslim teacher and figure today-among the laity, in
government circles, and among scholars and governments abroad.

He was among the founders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the fundamentalist organisation; but because of
differences with Maulana Maudoodi, lie left it soon.

Today lie is the Chairman of the Muslim Personal Law Board.

He is a founder member of the Raabta Alam-e-Islami, the Pan-Islamic body with headquarters in Mecca,
which decides among other things the amounts that different Islamic organisations the world over should
receive.

He has been the Nazim, that is the Rector, of the Darul Ulum Nadwatul-Ulama since 1961, that is for well
over a quarter of a century. The Nadwa owes not a small part of its eminence to the scholarship, the
exertions, tile national and international contacts of Ali Mian.

Politicians of all hues —Rajiv Gandhi, V.P. Singh, Chandrashekhar-seek him out.

He is the author of several books, including the well known Insaani Duniya Par Musalmanon Ke Uruj-o-
Zaval Ka Asar ( ^The impact of the Rise and Fall of Muslims on Mankind^), and is taken as the authority
on Islamic law, jurisprudence, theology, and specially history.

And he has great, in fact decisive, influence on the politics of Muslims in India.

His Father and His Book

His father, Maulana Hakim Sayid Abdul Hai, was an equally well known and influential figure. When the
Nadwa was founded, the first Rector, Maulana Muhammad Monghyri, the scholar at whose initiative the
original meeting in 1892 which led to the establishment of the Nadwa was called, had chosen Maulana
Abdul Hai as the Madadgar Nazim, the Additional Rector.

Abdul Hai served in that capacity till July 1915 when he was appointed the Rector.

Because of his scholarship and his services to the institution and to Islam, he was reappointed as the Rector
in 1920. He continued in that post till his death in February 1923.

He too wrote several books, including a famous directory which has just been republished from Hyderabad,
of thousands of Muslims who had served the cause of Islam in India, chiefly by the numbers they had
converted to the faith.

During some work I came across the reference to a book of his and began to look for it.

It was a long, discursive book, I learnt, which began with descriptions of the geography, flora and fauna,
languages, people and the regions of India. These were written for the Arabic speaking peoples, the book
having been written in Arabic.

In 1972,1 learnt, the Nadwatul-Ulama had the book translated into Urdu and published the most important
chapters of the book under the titl ^Hindustan Islami AhadMein (❖Hindustan under Islamic Killed). Ali
Mian, I was told, had himself written the foreword in which he had commanded the book most highly. The
book as published had left out descriptions of geography etc., on the premise that facts about these are well
known to Indian readers.

A Sudden Reluctance

A curious fact hit me in the face. Many of the persons who one would have normally expected to be
knowledgeable about such publications were suddenly reluctant to recall this book. I was told, in fact, that
copies of the book had been removed, for instance from the Aligarh Muslim University Library. Some
even suggested that a determined effort had been made three or four years ago to get back each and every
copy of this book.

Fortunately the suggestion tinned out to be untrue. While some of the libraries one would normally expect,
to have the book-the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi; the famous libraries in Hyderabad-those of the

Dairutual Maarifal-Osmania, of the Salar Jung Museum, of the Nizamis Trust, of the Osmania University,

the Kutubkhana-i-Saidiya - did not have it, others did. Among the latter were the Nadwa^s library itself,
the justly famous Khuda Baksh Library in Patna, that of the Institute of Islamic Studies in Delhi.

The fact that the book was available in all these libraries came as a great reassurance. I felt that if
reactionaries and propagandists have become so well organised that they can secure the disappearance from
every library of a book they have come not to like, we are in deep trouble. Clearly they were not that
resourceful.

The fact that, contrary to what I had been told, the book was available also taught me another reassuring
thing: factional fights among Muslim fundamentalists are as sharp and intense as are the factional fights
among fundamentalists of other hues. For the suggestion of there being something sinister in the
inaccessibility of the book had come to me from responsible Muslim quarters.

❖This valuable gift, this historical testament ❖

The book is the publication number 66 of the Majlis Tehqiqat wa Nashriat Islam, the publication house of
the Nadwatul-Ulama, Lucknow.

The Arabic version was published in 1972 in Hyderabad, the Urdu version in 1973 in Lucknow. An
English version was published in 1977.1 will use the Urdu version as the illustration.

Maulana Abul-Hasan Ali Nadwi, that is Ali Mian himself, contributes the foreword.

It is an eloquent, almost lyrical foreword.

Islam has imbued its followers with the quest for truth, with patriotism, he writes. Their nature, their
culture has made Muslims the writers of true history, he writes.

Muslims had but to reach a country, he writes, and its fortunes lit up and it awakened from the slumber of
hundreds and thousands of years. The country thereby ascended from darkness to light, he writes, from
oblivion and obscurity to the pinnacle of name and fame. Leaving its parochial ambit, he writes, it joined
the family of man, it joined the wide and vast creation of God. And the luminescence of Islam, he writes,
transformed its hidden treasures into the light of eyes.

It did not stick away the wealth of the country, he writes, and vomit it elsewhere as western powers did.

On the contrary, it brought sophistication, culture, beneficient administration, peace, tranquility to the
country. It raised the country from the age of savagery to the age of progress, he writes, from infantilism to
adulthood. It transformed its barren lands into swaying fields, he writes, its wild shrubs into fruit-laden
trees of such munificence that the residents could not even have dreamt of them.

And so on.

He then recalls the vast learning and prodigious exertions of Maulana Abdul Hai, his 8-volume work on
4500 Muslims who served the cause of Islam in India, his directory of Islamic scholars.

He recalls how after completing these books the Maulana turned to subjects which had till then remained
obscure, how in these labours the Maulana was like the proverbial bee collecting honey from varied

flowers. He recounts the wide range of the Maulanais scholarship. He recounts how the latter collected
rare data, how a person like him accomplished single-handed what entire academies are unable these days
to do.

He recounts the structure of the present book. He recalls how it lay neglected for long, how, even as the
work of re-transcribing a moth-eaten manuscript was going on, a complete manuscript was discovered in
Azamgarh, how in 1933 the grace of Providence saved it from destruction and obscurity.

He writes that the book brings into bold relief those hallmarks of Islamic rule which have been unjustly and
untruthfully dealt with by western and Indian historians, which in fact many Muslim historians and scholars
in universities and academies too have treated with neglect and lack of appreciation.

Recalling how Maulana Abdul Hai had to study thousands of pages on a subject, Ali Mian writes that only
he who has himself worked on the subject can appreciate the effort that has gone into the study. You will
get in a single chapter of this book, he tells the reader, the essence which you cannot obtain by reading
scores of books. This is the result, he writes, of the fact that the author laboured only for the pleasure of
God, for the service of learning, and the fulfilment of his own soul. Such authors expected no rewards, no
applause, he tells us. Work was their entire satisfaction. That is how they were able to put in such
herculean labours, to spend their entire life on one subject.

We are immensely pleased, he concludes, to present this valuable gift and historical testament to our
countrymen and hope that Allah will accept this act of service and scholars will also receive it with respect
and approbation.

The Explanation

Such being the eminence of the author, such being the greatness of the work, why is it not the cynosure of
the fundamentalists ii eyes?

The answer is in the chapter i Hindustan ki Masjidein iThe Mosques of Hindustani.

Barely seventeen pages; the chapter is simply written. A few facts about some of the principal mosques are
described in a few lines each.

The facts are well-known, they are elementary, and setting them out in a few lines each should attract no
attention. And yet, as we shall see, there is furtiveness in regard to them. Why? Descriptions of seven
mosques provide the answer.

The devout constructed so many mosques, Maulana Abdul Hai records, they lavished such huge amounts
and such labours on them that they cannot all be reckoned, that every city, town, hamlet came to be
adorned by a mosque. He says that he will therefore have to be content with setting out the facts of just a
few of the well-known ones.

A few sentences from what he says about seven mosques will do:

❖Qawwat al-Islam Mosque

According to my findings the first mosque of Delhi is Qubbat all-Islam or Quwwat al-Islam which, it is
said, Qutbud-Din Aibak constructed in H. 587 after demolishing the temple built by Prithvi Raj and leaving
certain parts of the temple (outside the mosque proper); and when he returned from Ghazni in H. 592, he
started building, under orders from Shihabud-Din Ghori, a huge mosque of inimitable red stones, and
certain parts of the temple were included in the mosque. After that, when Shamsud-Din Altamish became
the king, he built, on both sides of it, edifices of white stones, and on one side of it he started constructing

that loftiest of all towers which has no equal in the world for its beauty and strength^

The Mosque at Jaunpur

This was built by Sultan Ibrahim Sharqi with chiselled stones. Originally it was a Hindu temple after
demolishing which he constructed the mosque. It is known as the Atala Masjid. The Sultan used to offer

his Friday and Id prayers in it, and Qazi Shihabud-Din gave lessons in it^>

The Mosque at Qanauj

This mosque stands on an elevated ground inside the Fort of Qanauj. It is well-known that it was built on
the foundations of some Hindu temple (that stood) here. It is a beautiful mosque. They say that it was built

by Ibrahim Sharqi in H. 809 as is (recorded) in ^Gharabat Nigar

Jami (Masjid) at Etawah

This mosque stands on the bank of the Jamuna at Etawah. There was a Hindu temple at this place, on the
site of which this mosque was constructed. It is also patterned after the mosque at Qanauj. Probably it is
one of the monuments of the Sharqi Sultans.

Babri Masjid at Ayodhya

This mosque was constructed by Babar at Ayodhya which Hindus call the birth place of Ramchanderji.
There is a famous story about his wife Sita. It is said that Sita had a temple here in which she lived and

cooked food for her husband. On that very site Babar constructed this mosque in H. 963 ❖

Mosques of Alamgir (Aurangzeb)

It is said that the mosque of Benares was built by Alamgir on the site of the Bisheshwar Temple. That
temple was very tall and (held as) holy among the Hindus. On this very site and with those very stones he
constructed a lofty mosque, and its ancient stones were rearranged after being embedded in the walls of the

mosque. It is one of the renowed mosques of Hindustan. The second mosque at Benares (is the one) which
was built by Alamgir on the bank of the Ganga with chiselled stones. This also is a renowned mosque of
Hindustan. It has 28 towers, each of which is 238 feet tall. This is on the bank of the Ganga and its
foundations extend to the depth of the waters.

Alamgir built a mosque at Mathura. It is said that this mosque was built on the site of the Gobind Dev
Temple which was very strong and beautiful as well as exquisite^ ^

❖it is said ❖

But the Maulana is not testifying to the facts. He is merely reporting what was believed. He repeatedly
says, ❖it is said that^^

That seems to be a figure of speech with the Maulana. When describing the construction of the Quwwatul
Islam mosque by Qutubuddin Aibak, for instance, he uses the same ^It is said. ❖

If the facts were in doubt, would a ❖scholar of Ali Miauls diligence and commitment not have
commented on them in his full-bodied foreward? Indeed, he would have decided against republishing them
as he decided not to republish much of the original book.

And if the scholars had felt that the passages could be that easily disposed of, why should any effort have
been made to take a work to the excellence of which a scholar of Ali Mian^s stature has testified in such a
fulsome manner, and do what has been done to this one? And what is that?

Each reference to each of these mosques having been constructed on the sites of temples with, as in the
case of the mosque at Benaras, the stones of the very temple which was demolished for that very purpose
have been censored out of the English version of the book! Each one of the passages on each one of the
seven mosques! No accident that.

Indeed there is not just censorship but substitution. In the Urdu volume we are told in regard to the mosque
at Qanauj for instance that ❖This mosque stands on an elevated ground inside the fort of Qanauj. It is well
known that it was built on the foundation of some Hindu Temple (that stood) here.^ In the English volume
we are told in regard to the same mosque that ❖it occupied a commanding site, believed to have been the
place earlier occupied by an old and decayed fort. ❖

If the passages could have been so easily explained away by referring to the ❖it is saids ❖, why would
anyone have thought it necessary to remove these passages from the English version-that is the version
which was more likely to be read by persons other than the faithful? Why would anyone bowdlerise the
book of a major scholar in this way?

Conclusions

But that, though obvious, weighs little with me. The fact that temples were broken and mosques
constructed in their place is well known. Nor is the fact that the materials of the temples-the stones and
idols—were used in constructing the mosque, news. It was thought that this was the way to announce
hegemony. It was thought that this was the way to strike at the heart of the conquered-for in those days the

temple was not just a place of worship; it was the hub of the community's life, of its learning, of its social

life. So the lines in the book which bear on this practice are of no earth-shaking significance in
themselves. Their real significance- and I dare say that they are but the smallest, most innocuous example
that one can think of on the mosque-temple business-lies in the evasion and concealment they have spurred.
I have it on good authority that the passages have been known for long, and well known to those who have
been stoking the Babri Masjid issue. 1

That is the significant thing; they have known them, and their impulse has been to conceal and bury rather
than to ascertain the truth.

I have little doubt that a rational solution can be found for the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi tangle, a
solution which will respect the sentiments, the essentials, of the religions of all.

But no solution can be devised if the issue is going to be made the occasion for h show of strength by either
side, if it is going to be converted into a symbol for establishing who shall prevail.

The fate of Maulana Abdul Hai^s passages-and I do, not know whether the Urdu version itself was not a
conveniently sanitised version of the original Arabic volume-illustrates the cynical manner in which those
who stoke the passions of religion to further their politics are going about the matter.

Those who proceed by such cynical calculations sow havoc for all of us, for Muslims, for Hindus, for all.

Those who remain silent in the face of such cynicism, such calculations help them sow the havoc.

Will we shed our evasions and concealments? Will we at last learn to speak and face the whole truth? To
see how communalism of one side justifies and stokes that of the other? To see that these ^Headers are
not interested in facts, not in religion, not in a building or a site, but in power, in their personal power, and
in that alone? That for them religion is but an instrument, an instrument which is so attractive because the
costs of wedding it fall on others, on their followers, and not on them?

Will we never call a halt to them?

Indian Express, February 5,1989

Footnotes:

1 Several other modern Muslim historians and epigraphists accept the fact that many other
mosques including the Babari Masjid at Ayodhya stand on the sites of Hindu temples.

Chapter Two

The Tip of An Iceberg

Sita Ram Goel

The mention made by Maulana Abdul Hai (Indian Express, February 5) of Hindu temples turned into
mosques, is only the tip of an iceberg. The iceberg itself lies submerged in the writings of medieval Muslim
historians, accounts of foreign travellers and the reports of the Archaeological Survey of India. A hue and
cry has been raised in the name of secularism and national integration whenever the iceberg has chanced to
surface, inspite of hectic efforts to keep it suppressed. Marxist politicians masquerading as historians have
been the major contributors to this conspiracy of silence.

Muslim politicians and scholars in present-day India resent any reference whatsoever to the destruction of
Hindu temples in medieval times. They react as if it is a canard being spread by those they stigmatise as

Hindu communalists. There was, however, a time, not so long ago, when their predecessors viewed the
same performance as an act of piety and proclaimed it with considerable pride in inscriptions and literary
compositions. Hindus of medieval India hardly wrote any history of what happened to their places of

worship at the hands of Islamic iconoclasts. Whatever evidence the ^ Hindu communalists^ cite in this
context comes entirely from Islamic sources, epigraphic and literary.

Epigraphic Evidence

There are many mosques all over India which are known to local tradition and the Archaeological Survey
of India as built on the site of and, quite frequently, from the materials of, demolished Hindu temples.

Most of them carry inscriptions invoking Allah and the Prophet, quoting the Quran and giving details of
when, how and by whom they were constructed. The inscriptions have been deciphered and connected to
their historical context by learned Muslim epigraphists. They have been published by the. Archaeological
Survey of India in its Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian Supplement , an annual which appeared first in
1907-08 as Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica. The following few inscriptions have been selected in order to
show that (1) destruction of Hindu temples continued throughout the period of Muslim domination; (2) it
covered all parts of India-east, west, north and south; and (3) all Muslim dynasties, imperial and provincial,

participated in the ^pious performance. ^

1. Quwwat al-Islam Masjid, Qutb Minar, Delhi: ^>This fort was conquered and the Jami Masjid built in

the year 587 by the Amir^ the slave of the Sultan, may Allalh strengthen his helpers. The materials of 27
idol temples, on each of which 2,000,000 Delhiwals had been spent were used in the (construction of) the
mosque^ ^ (1909-10, Pp 3-4). The Amir was Qutbud-Din Aibak, slave of Muizzud-Din Muhammad

Ghori. The year 587 H. corresponds to 1192 A.D. ^Delhiwal^ was a high-denomination coin current at
that time in Delhi.

2. Masjid at Manvi in the Raichur District of Karnataka: Praise be to Allah that by the decree of the
Parvardigar, a mosque has been converted out of a temple as a sign of religion in the reign of^> the Sultan
who is the asylum of Faith Firuz Shah Bahmani who is the cause of exuberant spring in the garden of
religion^ (1962, Pp. 56-57). The inscription mentions the year 1406-07 A.D. as the time of construction.

3. Jami Masjid at Malan, Palanpur Taluka, Banaskantha District of Gujarat: ^The Jami Masjid was
built^ by Khan-I-Azam Ulugh Khan... who suppressed the wretched infidels. He eradicated the idolatrous
houses and mine of infidelity, along with the idols^ with the edge of the sword, and made ready this
edifice^ He made its walls and doors out of the idols; the back of every stone became the place for

prostration of the believer^ (1963, Pp. 26-29). The date of construction is mentioned as 1462 A.D. in the
reign of Mahmud Shah I (Begada) of Gujarat.

4. Hanimam Darwaza Masjid at Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh: ^Thanks that by the guidance of the
Everlasting and the Living (Allah), this house of infidelity became the niche of prayer. As a reward for
that, the Generous Lord constructed an abode for the builder in paradise^ (1969, p. 375). Its chronogram
yields the year 1567 A.D. in the reign of Akbar, the Great Mughal. A local historian, Fasihud-Din, tells us
that the temple had been built earlier by Diwan Lachhman Das, an official of the Mughal government.

5. Jami Masjid at Ghoda in the Poona District of Maharashtra: ^>0 Allah! 0 Muhammad! O Ali!
When Mir Muhammad Zaman made up his mind, he opened the door of prosperity on himself by his own
hand. He demolished thirty-three idol temples (and) by divine grace laid the foundation of a building in

this abode of perdition^ (1933-34, p.24). The inscription is dated 1586 A.D. when the Poona region was
ruled by the Nizam Shahi sultans of Ahmadnagar.

6. Gachinala Masjid at Cumbum in the Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh: ^Hc is Allah, may he be
glorified^ During the august rule olA> Muhammad Shah, there was a well-established idol-house in

Kuhmunr^ Muhammad Salih who prospers in the rectitude of the affairs of Faith ^ razed to the ground,
the edifice of the idol-house and broke the idols in a manly fashion. He constructed on its site a suitable
mosque, towering above the buildings of all^ (1959-60, Pp. 64-66). The date of construction is mentioned
as 1729-30 A.D. in the reign of the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah.

Though sites of demolished Hindu temples were mostly used for building mosques and idgahs, temple
materials were often used in other Muslim monuments as well. Archaeologists have discovered such
materials, architectural as well as sculptural, in quite a few forts, palaces, maqbaras, sufi khanqahs,
madrasas, etc. In Srinagar, Kashmir, temple materials can be seen in long stretches of the stone
embankments on both sides of the Jhelum. Two inscriptions on the walls of the Gopi Talav, a stepped well
at Surat, tell us that the well was constructed by Haidar Quli, the Mughal governor of Gujarat, in 1718 A.D.

in the reign of Farrukh Siyar. One of them says, ^its bricks were taken from an idol temple.^ The other

informs us that ^Haider Quli Khan, during whose period tyranny has become extinct, laid waste several

idol temples in order to make this strong building firm^>^ (1933-34, Pp. 37-44).

Literary Evidence

Literary evidence of Islamic iconoclasm vis-a-vis Hindu places of worship is far more extensive. It covers
a longer span of time, from the fifth decade of the 7th century to the closing years of the eighteenth. It also
embraces a larger space, from Transoxiana in the north to Tamil Nadu in the south, and from Afghanistan

in the west to Assam in the east. Marxist ^historians'^ and Muslim apologists would have us believe that
medieval Muslim annalists were indulging in poetic exaggerations in order to please their pious patrons.
Archaeological explorations in modern times have, however, provided physical proofs of literary
descriptions. The vast cradle of Hindu culture is literally littered with ruins of temples and monasteries
belonging to all sects of Sanatana Dharma - Buddhist, Jain, Saiva, Shakta, Vaishnava and the rest.

Almost all medieval Muslim historians credit their heroes with desecration of Hindu idols and/or
destruction of Hindu temples. The picture that emerges has the following components, depending upon
whether the iconoclast was in a hurry on account of Hindu resistance or did his work at leisure after a
decisive victory:

1. The idols were mutilated or smashed or burnt or melted down if they were made of precious metals.

2. Sculptures in relief on walls and pillars were disfigured or scraped away or torn down.

3. Idols of stone and inferior metals or their pieces were taken away, sometimes by cartloads, to be thrown
down before the main mosque in (a) the metropolis of the ruling Muslim sultan and (b) the holy cities of
Islam, particularly Mecca, Medina and Baghdad.

4. There were instances of idols being turned into lavatory seats or handed over to butchers to be used as
weights while selling meat.

5. Brahmin priests and other holy men in and around the temple were molested or murdered.

6. Sacred vessels and scriptures used in worship were defiled and scattered or burnt.

7. Temples were damaged or despoiled or demolished or burnt down or converted into mosques with some
structural alterations or entire mosques were raised on the same sites mostly with temple materials.

8. Cows were slaughtered on the temple sites so that Hindus could not use them again.

The literary sources, like epigraphic, provide evidence of the elation which Muslims felt while witnessing
or narrating these ^pious deeds.A few citations from Amir Khusru will illustrate the point. The

instances cited relate to the doings of Jalalud-Din Firuz Khalji, Alaud-Din Khalji and the letters military
commanders. Khusru served as a court-poet of sex successive sultans at Delhi and wrote a masnavi in
praise of each. He was the dearest disciple of Shaikh Nizamud-Din Awliya and has come to be honoured
as some sort of a sufi himself. In our own times, he is being hailed is the father of a composite Hindu-
Muslim culture and the pioneer of secularism. Dr. R. C. Majumdar, whom the Marxists malign as a

^►communalist historian^ names him as a ^liberal Muslim^.

1. Jhain: ^Next morning he (Jalalud-Din) went again to the temples and ordered their destruction^

While the soldiers sought every opportunity of plundering, the Shah was engaged in burning the temples
and destroying the idols. There were two bronze idols of Brahma, each of which weighed more than a
thousand mans. These were broken into pieces and the fragments were distributed among the officers, with

orders to throw them down at the gates of the Masjid on their return (to Delhi)^ ( Miftah-ul-Futuh).

2. Devagiri: ^He (Alaud-Din) destroyed the temples of the idolaters and erected pulpits and arches for
mosques^ (Ibid.).

3. Somanath: ^They made the temple prostrate itself towards the Kaaba. You may say that the temple

first offered its prayers and then had a bath (i.e. the temple was made to topple and fall into the sea) ^ He
(Ulugh Khan) destroyed all the idols and temples, but sent one idol, the biggest of all idols, to the court of
his Godlike Majesty and on that account in that ancient stronghold of idolatry, the summons to prayers was

proclaimed so loudly that they heard it in Misr (Egypt) and Madain (Iraq)^ ( Tarikh-i-Alai ).

4. Delhi: ^He (Alaud-Din) ordered the circumference of the new minar to be made double of the old one
(Qutb Minar) The stones were dug out from the hills and the temples of the infidels were demolished to
furnish a supply^ (Ibid.).

5. Ranthambhor: ^This strong fort was taken by the slaughter of the stinking Rai. Jhain was also
captured, an iron fort, an ancient abode of idolatry, and a new city of the people of the faith arose. The
temple of Bahir (Bhairava) Deo and temples of other gods, were all razed to the ground^ (Ibid.).

6. Brahmastpuri (Chidambaram): ^>Here he (Malik Kafur) heard that in Bramastpuri there was a golden

idol^ He then determined on razing the temple to the ground^ It was the holy place of the Hindus which
the Malik dug up from its foundations with the greatest care, and the heads of brahmans and idolaters
danced from their necks and fell to the ground at their feet, and blood flowed in torrents. The stone idols

called Ling Mahadeo, which had been established a long time at the place and on which the women of the
infidels rubbed their vaginas for (sexual) satisfaction, these, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islam
had not attempted to break. The Musulmans destroyed in the lings and Deo Narain fell down, and other
gods who had fixed their seats there raised feet and jumped so high that at one leap they reached the fort of

Lanka, and in that affright the lings themselves would have fled had they had any legs to stand oir4> (Ibid).

7. Madura: ^They found the city empty for the Rai had fled with the Ranis, but had left two or three
hundred elephants in the temple of Jagnar (Jagannatha). The elephants were captured and the temple
burnt^ (Ibid.).

8. Fatan: (Pattan): ^>There was another rai in these parts ^a Brahmin named Pandya Guru^ his capital
was Fatan, where there was a temple with an idol in it laden with jewels. The rai fled when the army of the
Sultan arrived at Fatan ^ They then struck the idol with an iron hatchet, and opened its head. Although it
was the very Qibla of the accursed infidels, it kissed the earth and filled the holy treasury^ ( Ashiqa ).

9. Ma^Hiar: (Parts of South India): ^>On the right hand and on the left hand the army has conquered from
sea to sea, and several capitals of the gods of the Hindus, in which Satanism has prevailed since the time of
the linns, have been demolished. All these impurities of infidelity have been cleansed by the Sultanas
destruction of idol-temples, beginning with his first holy expedition to Deogir, so that the flames of the
light of the Law (of Islam) illumine all these unholy countries, and places for the criers of prayers are

exalted on high, and prayers are read in mosques. Allah be praised!^ ( Tarikh-i-Alai).

The story of how Islamic invaders sought to destroy the very foundations of Hindu society and culture is
long and extremely painful. It would certainly be better for everybody to forget the past, but for the
prescriptions of Islamic theology which remain intact and make it obligatory for believers to destroy idols
and idol temples.

Indian Express, February 19,1989

Chapter Three

Some Historical Questions

Sita Ram Goel

Why did Islamic invaders continue to destroy Hindu temples and desecrate the idols of Hindu Gods and
Goddesses throughout the period of their domination? Why did they raise mosques on sites occupied earlier
by Hindu places of worship? These questions were asked by Hindu scholars in modern times after the
terror of Islam had ceased and could no more seal their lips.

In India - and in India alone - two explanations have come forth. One is provided by the theology of Islam
based on the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. The other has been proposed by Marxist professors and
lapped up by apologists of Islam. We shall take up the second explanation first.

The credit for pioneering the Marxist proposition about destruction of Hindu temples goes to the late
Professor Mohammed Habib of the Aligarh Muslim University. In his book, Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznin,

first published in 1924, he presented the thesis that Mahmud^s destruction of Hindu temples was actuated

not by zeal for the faith but by ^ lust for plunder. According to him, India at that time was bursting with
vast hoards of gold and silver accumulated down the ages from rich mines and a prosperous export trade.
Most of the wealth, he said without providing any proof, was concentrated in temple treasuries. ^Mt was

impossible,^ wrote the professor, ^that the Indian temples should not sooner or later tempt some one

strong and unscrupulous enough for the impious deed. Nor was it expected that a man of Mahmud ^>s
character would allow the tolerance which Islam inculcates to restrain him from taking possession of the
gold^ when the Indians themselves had simplified his work by concentrating the wealth of the country at a
few places^ fp. 82).

Professor Habib did not hide any of the salient facts regarding destruction of Hindu temples by Mahmud,
though the descriptions Le gave were brief, sometimes only in footnotes. He also narrated how

Mahmud^s exploits were celebrated at Baghdad by the Caliph and the populace and how the hero was
compared to the companions of the Prophet who had achieved similar victories in Arabia, Syria, Iraq and
Iran. Only the conclusion he drew was radically different from that drawn by Mahmud ^>s contemporaries

as well as latter-day historians and theologians of Islam. ^Islam,^ he wrote, ^sanctioned neither the
vandalism nor the plundering motives of the invader; no principle of the Shariat justifies the uncalled for
attack on Hindu princes who had done Mahmud and his subjects no harm; the wanton destruction of places
of worship is condemned by the law of every creed. And yet Islam, though it was not an inspiring motive
could be utilised as an a posteriors justification for what was done. So the precepts of the Quran were
misinterpreted or ignored and the tolerant policy of the Second Caliph was cast aside in order that Mahmud

and his myrmidons may be able to plunder Hindu temples with a clear and untroubled conscience^ (Pp.
83-84, Emphasis in source).

This proposition of Mahmud ^s guilt and Islam^>s innocence appealed to the architect of Indians
secularism. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In a letter dated June 1, 1932, he wrote to his daughter, Indira
Gandhi, that Mahmud ^was hardly a religious man^>, that he was ^>a Mohammedan of course, but that
was by the way ^ and that Mahmud would have done what he did ^>to whatever religion he might have

belonged^ (Glimpses of World History , 1982 Reprint, p. 155). In fact. Pandit Nehru went much farther
than Professor Habib. The latter had written how Mahmud gave orders to burn down thousands of temples
at Mathura after he had admired their architectural excellence. Pandit Nehru narrated how Mahmud
admired the temples but omitted the fact that they were destroyed by him (Ibid., Pp. 155-156). Thus a
determined destroyer of Hindu temples was transformed into an ardent admirer of Hindu architecture! This
portrayal of Mahmud remained unchanged in his Discovery of India which was published in 1946 (1982
Reprint, p. 235).

In days to come. Professor Habib^s thesis that lust for plunder and not the Islamic theology of iconoclasm
occasioned the destruction of Hindu temples, became the party line for Marxist historians who, in due
course, came to control all institutions concerned with researching, writing and teaching of Indian history.
This was extended to cover all acts of Muslim iconoclasm in medieval Indian history. It became a crime
against secularism and national integration even to mention Islam or its theology in this context. Any

historian who dared cite facts recorded by medieval Muslim historians was denounced as a ^ Hindu

communalist. Three Marxist professors wrote a book attacking Dr. R.C. Majumdar in particular, simply
because the great historian was not prepared to sacrifice truth at the altar of Communist politics. The book
was printed by a Communist publishing house and prescribed for graduate and post-graduate courses in
Indian universities.

What was more, the Marxist professors discovered a political motive as well. Hindu temples were seen as
centres of political conspiracies which Muslim sultans were forced to suppress. And if the temples got
destroyed in the process, no blame could be laid at the door of the sultans who were working hard in the
interest of public order and peace. In a letter published in the Times of India on October 21, 1985, twelve

Marxist professors rallied in defence of Aurangzeb who had destroyed the Keshavdeva temple at Mathura
and raised an Idgah in its place. ^The Dera Keshava Rai temple,^ they wrote, ^>was built by Raja Bir
Singh Bundela in the reign of Jahangir. This large temple soon became extremely popular and acquired
considerable wealth. Aurangzeb had this temple destroyed, took its wealth as booty and built an Idgah on
the site. His action might have been politically motivated as well, for at the time when the temple was

destroyed he faced problems with the Bundelas as well as Jat rebellion in the Mathura region.^

The climax was reached when the same Marxist professors started explaining away Islamic iconoclasm in
terms of what they described as Hindu destruction of Buddhist and Jain places of worship. They have
never been able to cite more than half-a-dozen cases of doubtful veracity. A few passages in Sanskrit
literature coupled with speculations about some archaeological sites have sufficed for floating the story,
sold ad nauseam in the popular press, that Hindus destroyed Buddhist and Jain temples on a large scale.
Half-a-dozen have become thousands and then hundreds of thousands in the frenzied imagination suffering

from a deep-seated anti-Hindu animus. Lately, they have added to the list the destruction of ^animist

shrines^ from pre-Hindu India, whatever that means. And these ^ facts ^ have been presented with a
large dose o fsuppressio veri suggestio falsi. A few instances will illustrate the point.

A very late Buddhist book from Sri Lanka accuses Pushyamitra Sunga, a second century B.C. king, of
offering prizes to those who brought to him heads of Buddhist monks. This single reference has sufficed

for presenting Pushyamitra as the harbinger of a ^►Brahmanical reaction^ which ^culminated in the age

of the Guptas.^ The fact that the famous Buddhist stupas and monasteries at Bharhut and Sanchi were
built and thrived under the very nose of Pushyamitra is never mentioned. Nor is the fact that the Gupta
kings and queens built and endowed many Buddhist monasteries at Bodh Gaya, Nalanda and Sarnath
among many other places.

A Pandyan king of Madura is reported to have been a persecutor of Jains. This is mentioned in a book of
the Saiva faith to which he belonged. But the source also says that before becoming a convert to Saivism,
the king was a devout Jain and had persecuted the Saivites. This part of the story is never mentioned by the
Marxist professors while they bewail the persecution of Jains.

According to the Rajatarirgini of Kalhana, King Harsha of Kashmir plundered Hindu and Buddhist temples
in his lust for the gold and silver which went into the making of idols. This fact is played up by the Marxist

professors with great fanfare. But they never mention Kalhan^s comment that in doing what he did

Harsha ^acted like a Turushka (Muslim)^ and was ^prompted by the Turushkas in his employ.^

This placing of Hindu kings on par with Muslim invaders in the context of iconoclasm suffers from serious
shortcomings. Firstly, it lacks all sense of proportion when it tries to explain away the destruction of
hundreds of thousands of Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain temples by Islamic invaders in terms of the
doubtful destruction of a few Buddhist and Jain shrines by Hindu kings. Secondly, it has yet to produce
evidence that Hindus ever had a theology of iconoclasm which made this practice a permanent part of
Hinduism. Isolated acts by a few fanatics whom no Hindu historian or pandit has ever admired, cannot
explain away a full-fledged theology which inspired Islamic iconoclasm. Lastly, it speaks rather poorly of
Marxist ethics which seems to say that one wrong can be explained away in terms of another.-

Coming to the economic and political motives for the destruction of Hindu temples, it does not need an
extraordinary imagination to see that the Marxist thesis is contrived and farfetched, if not downright
ridiculous. It does not explain even a fraction of the facts relating to the destruction of Hindu temples as
known from literary and archaeological sources. Even if we grant that Hindu temples in India continued to
be rich and centres of political unrest for more than a thousand years, it defies understanding why they
alone were singled out for plunder and destruction. There was no dearth of Muslim places of worship

which were far richer and greater centres of conspiracy. The desecration of Hindu idols and raising of
mosques on temple sites is impossible to explain in terms of any economic or political motive whatsoever.
Small wonder that the Marxist thesis ends by inventing facts instead of explaining them.

Professor Habib cannot be accused of ignorance about the theology or history of Islam. The most that can
be said in his defence is that he was trying to salvage Islam by sacrificing Mahmud of Ghaznin who had
become the greatest symbol of Islamic intolerance in the Indian context. One wonders whether he
anticipated the consequences of extending his logic to subsequent sultans of medieval India. The result has
been disastrous for Islam. In the process, it has been reduced to a convenient cover for plunder and
brigandage. The heroes of Islam in India have been converted into bandits and vandals.

It is amazing that apologists of Islam in India have plumped for Professor Habib^s thesis as elaborated by
succeeding Marxist scribes. They would have rendered service to Islam if they had continued admitting
honestly that iconoclasm has been an integral part of the theology of Islam. Their predecessors in medieval
India made no bones about such an admission. Nor do the scholars of Islam outside India, particularly in
Pakistan.

What we need most in this country is an inter-religious dialogue in which all religions are honest and frank
about their drawbacks and limitations. Such a dialogue is impossible if we hide or supress or invent facts
and offer dishonest interpretations. Mahatma Gandhi had said that Islam was born only yesterday and is
still in the process of interpretation. Hiding facts and floating fictions is hardly the way for promoting that
process.

Indian Express, April 16,1989

Footnotes:

- It is intriguing that the Marxist professors never mention the destruction of Buddhist and Jain
establishments in Transoxiana, Sinkiang, Seistan and India which on the eve of the Islamic
invasion included present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Every historian and
archaeologist of that period knows that the vast Buddhist and Jain establishments at Bukhara,
Samarkand, Khotan, Balkh, Bamian, Begram, Jalalabad, Peshawar, Takshasila, Mirpur-Khas,
Nagar-Parkar, Sringar, Sialkot, Agroha, Mathura, Hastinapur, Kanauj, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Sarnath,
Nalanda, Vikramsila, Vaishali, Rajgir, Odantpuri, Bharhut, Paharpur, Jagaddala, Jajnagar,
Nagarjunikonda, Amaravati, Kanchi, Dwarasamudra, Bharuch Valabhi, Palitana, Girnar, Patan,
Jalor, Chandrawati, Bhinmal, Didwana, Nagaur, Osian, Bairat, Gwalior and Mandu were
destroyed by the swordsmen of Islam. Smaller establishments of these faiths, which met the same
fate, add up to several hundred.

Chapter Four

In the Name of Religion

Sita Ram Goel

We shall now take up the explanation provided by the theology of Islam derived from the Quran and the
Hadis.

Ibn Ishaq, the first biographer of the Prophet, devotes many pages to a description of Arab polytheism at
the time when Islam started taking shape. Every Arab household, he tells us, had an idol of some God or
Goddess. He also gives the names of many idols which were housed in sanctuaries maintained by different

tribes across the Arab peninsula. The Ka^ba at Mecca which housed 360 idols was only one of these

sanctuaries, though it was the most prestigious. One of the idols in the Ka^ba was named Allah. Though
it had some primacy over other idols, it was far from being an exclusive deity. Besides, there were many
sacred groves and places of pilgrimage visited by Arabs on special occasions.

At the same time, Ibn Ishaq informs us that Monotheism was becoming an attractive creed among some
sections of the Arab elite. It was the creed of the Roman, Iranian and Abyssinian empires which inspired
awe and admiration among the Arabs at that time. Many Jews and Christians were present, individually or
in communities, in the more important Arab towns. These People of the Book took great pride in their
worship of the one and only God and looked down upon the Arabs who had had no Prophet, who possessed
no Book and who worshipped stones and stocks. They aroused a sense of inferiority in the minds of those
Arabs who came in close contact with them but who were not equipped with an alternate theology that
could defend their own Gods and Goddesses. Such Arabs looked forward to the day when Arabia also
would have a Prophet and a Book of its own.

Those who have compared the Bible and the Quran know how close the two are in spirit and language on
the subject of idols and idol-worshippers. Like Jehovah of the Bible, Allah also advances his claim to be
the one and only God. He denounces the musliriks (idolaters) as the doubly damned category
of kafirs (unbelievers) when compared to the other category, the People of the Book. The idols, proclaims
Allah while abrogating the so-called Satanic Verses, are mere names invented by the ancestors of the
Arabs. They have neither eyes nor ears nor hands nor feet and can, therefore, neither help nor harm. They
cannot respond to prayers and will fail to save their worshippers from bell on the Day of Judgement. They
will themselves burn in the fire of hell together with those who worship them. Meanwhile, they render
their worshippers napak (abominable) in the eyes of Allah.

In the early days of Islam, Muslims were too weak to practice iconoclasm at Mecca. They had to rest
content with expressing their contempt for idols. Food which had first been offered to idols was spurned.
Names which referred to some pagan God or Goddess were changed as soon as the bearers entered the fold

of Islam. But the clarion call had come. ^Herd them together,^ said Allah, ^those who commit

transgression and those whom they worship, and start them on the road to hellfire^ (Quran, 37.22-23). The

Prophet saw Amr bin Lubayy ^dragging his intestines in Lire.^ Amr was a second century king,
supposed to have brought idols from Syria and set them up in Arabia.

Medina where Muslims were stronger witnessed some acts of iconoclasm even before the Prophet migrated
to that city. Ibn Ishaq tells us how the idol of Amr Ibnul-Jamuh was stolen at night by a group of Muslims
and thrown into a cesspit, again and again till Amr lost faith in it and became a Muslim. At nearby Quba,
Sahl broke up the idols of his tribe at night and took the pieces to a Muslim woman who used them as fuel.

The Prophet made iconoclasm a pious performance for all Muslims for all time to come when he practised
it himself on the very day he conquered Mecca. ^When the Prophet,^ writes Ibn Ishaq, Sprayed the
noon prayer on the day of the conquest he ordered that all the idols which were round the Ka^ba should be
collected and burnt with fire and broken up. ^ Citing some other sources, the Encyclopaedia of
Islamsays, ^Muhammad when he entered Mecca as victor is stated to have struck them in the eyes with
the end of his bow before he had them dragged down and destroyed by fire.^ Pictorial representations of

Ali standing on the shoulders of the Prophet and tearing down the idol of Hubal from top of a Ka^ba wall,
have been published by Shias.-

Soon after, expeditions were sent to other parts of Arabia for doing what had been done at Mecca. Idols
were smashed and temples destroyed or converted into mosques everywhere, Muslim poets vied with each
other to record the events in rapturous verse. Fazal bin al-Mulawwih sang:

Had you seen Muhammad and his troops,

The day the idols were smashed when he entered.

You would have seen Godis light become manifest.

In darkness covering the face of idolatry.

And Kab bin Malik:

We foresook al-Lat, al-Uzza and Wudd
We stripped off their necklaces and earrings.

And al-Mustaughir Bin Rabia who was a warrior as well as a poet:
I smashed Ruda so completely that
I left it a black ruin in a hollow.

iGrowing Islam, i concludes the Encyclopaedia of Islam, iwas from the very beginning intent upon the
destruction of all traces of pagan idolatry and was so successful that the anti-quarians of the second and
third century of the Hadira could glean only very scanty details. Some of the idols were made use of for

other purposes, as for example, the idol Dhul-Kalasai which was worshipped at Tabala, a place on the
road from Mekka to Yaman in the time of Ibn al-Kalbi (about 200 A.D.), was used as a stepping stone
under the door of the mosque at Tabala. Other stones which had been worshipped as idols were actually

used as corner-stones of the Kaiba.i

Muslim historians tell us on the authority of the Prophet that idolaters of Arabia had set up idols in places
which were meant to be mosques when they were established for the first time by Abraham. The mosque

of Kaiba, we are told, had been built by Abraham at the very centre of the earth." Those who dismiss
Rama as mythological gossip and deny him a place of birth at Ayodhya may well enquire whether
Abraham was a historical person who actually presided over the building of the Kaiba.

It is, however, recorded history that the armies of Islam did everywhere what had been done in Arabia, as
they advanced into Iran, Khorasan, Transoxiana, Seistan, Afghanistan and India. Hundreds of thousands of
Fire Temples of the Zoroastrians, Buddhist monasteries and Hindu temples disappeared or yielded place to
mosques, ziarats and dargahs. Modern archaeology, has reconstructed what happened along the trail of
Islamic invasion of all these ancient lands.

Maulana Minhaj-us-Siraj, the thirteenth century historian, sums up the theology of Islam vis-a-vis idols and
idol-temples when he comes to Mahmud of Ghazni in his Tabqat-i-Nasiri. iHc was endowed, i he

writes, iwith great virtues and vast abilities; and the same predominant star was in the ascendant at his
birth as appeared at the dawn of Islam itself. When Sultan Mahmud ascended the throne of sovereignty his
illustrious deeds became manifest unto all mankind within the pale of Islam when he converted so many

thousands of idol-temples into masjids and captured many of the cities of Hindustani He led an army to
Naharwala of Gujarat, and brought away Manat, the idol from Somnath, and had it broken into four parts,
one of which was cast before the centre of the great masjid at Ghaznin, the second before the gateway of

the Sultan is palace, and the third and fourth were sent to Makkah and Madinah respectively, i
Mahmudis coins struck at Lahore in the seventh year of his reign describe him as the iright hand of the
Caliphi and ithe breaker of idols, i

This is the simple and straightforward explanation of why Islamic invaders desecrated the idols of Hindu
Gods and Goddesses, destroyed Hindu temples and converted them into mosques. It covers all facts,
completely and consistently, and leaves no loopholes.

Indian Express, May 21,1989

Footnotes:

1 When Muhammad entered the Ka^ba after his conquest of Mecca by overwhelming force, he
declared, ❖Truth has come and falsehood has vanished ❖ (Sahih Muslim , 4397). Ram Swarup
comments, ❖it takes more than an invading army or crusaders or a demolition squad with sledge¬
hammers to establish the domain of Truths Similarly, it is not that easy to get over

❖falsehood ❖❖ True spiritual demolition involves the demolition of desire-gods and ego-gods,
the demolition of the false gods that reside in conceited theologies, in pretentious revelations and
fond belict'❖ ❖ (Understanding Islam Through Hadis, Voice of India, Second Reprint, 1987, Pp.
115-16.)

2 The Prophet of Islam gave not only a new, ❖religion^ to his country-men but also a new
history of Arabia, the same as the prophets of Secularism have been doing in India since the days
of Pandit Nehru^s dominance.

Chapter Five

A Need to Face the Truth

Ram Swarup

The article ❖Hideaway Communalism^ (Indian Express, February 5, 1989), is unusual. It discusses a
question which has been a taboo and speaks on it with a frankness rare among Indian intellectuals.

Similarly, in his articles ❖The Tip of An Iceberg^ and ❖in the Name of Religion ❖ (February 9, May
21) Sita Ram Goel brings to the subject unequalled research and discusses it in a larger historical
perspective.

In the history of Islam, iconoclasm and razing other peoples ❖ temples are not aberrations - stray acts of
zealous but misguided rulers - but are central to the faith. They derive their justification and validity from
the Quranic Revelation and the Prophet^s Sunna or practice. It is another matter though that these could
not always be implemented in their full theological rigour due to many unfavourable circumstances - an
exigency for which Islamic theology makes ample provisions.

Early Islam

Shrines and idols of the unbelievers began to be destroyed during the Prophet^s own time and, indeed, at
his own behest. Sirat-un-Nabi, the first pious biography of the Prophet, tells us how during the earliest days
of Islam, young men at Medina influenced by Islamic teachings repeatedly crept into a house every night

and carried its idol and threw ^it on its face into a cesspit. ❖

However, desecration and destruction began in earnest when Mecca was conquered. Ali was chosen to
destroy the idols at Ka^ba which, we are told, he did mounting on the shoulders of the Prophet. Umar was
chosen for destroying the pictures on the walls of the shrine. After this, as Tarikh-i-'Tabari tells us, raiding
parties were sent in all directions to destroy the images of deities held in special veneration by different

tribes including the images of al-Manat, al-Lat and al-Uzza, intercessories of the Satanic Verses. Sa^d
was sent to destroy the shrine of al-Manat, the deity of the tribes of Aus and Khazraj. When the shrine of
al-Lat was invaded, its devotees resisted. But finding themselves overpowered, they surrendered and
became Muslims. The women-worshippers wept to see how their deity was

^Deserted by Her servants.

Who did not show enough manliness in defending Her.

Similarly, Walid was sent by the prophet to destroy the idol of al-Uzza at Nakhla, venerated by the tribes of
Kinan and Nadar. Overawed, the guardians left the deity to defend herself. They called out:

O Uzza! make an annihilating attack on Khalid,

O Uzza! if you do not kill the man Khalid

Then bear a swift punishment or become a Christian.

Why Christian? The word should have been Muslim. It seems the tradition belongs to the very early
period of Islam when at least, on the popular level, Christians and Muslims were mistaken for each other.
For, both shared a common outlook, both indulged in forced conversions and both destroyed shrines
belonging to others.

Semitic Revelation

The fact is that the Revelation of the Prophet of Islam does not stand alone. It is rooted in the older Judaic
Revelation from which Christianity also derives. The two Revelations differ in some particulars but they
have important similarities. The God of both is exclusive and brooks no rivals, no partner. He demands

exclusive loyalty and commands that his followers would ^worship no other God.^> But though so
demanding in their worship, he does not make himself known to them directly. On the other hand, he
communicates his will to them indirectly through a favourite messenger or prophet, or a special incarnation.

This God is so different from God in other religious traditions. For example, in Hindu tradition, a God is
not exclusive. He lives in friendliness with other Gods. In fact, ^other^ Gods are His own
manifestations. In this tradition. He also has no rigid form and is conceived in widely different ways:
p I lira 11 y, singly, monistically. He also recognises no single favourite intermediary but reveals Himself to
all who approach Him with devotion and in wisdom. No Semitic protocol here. The Hindu tradition also
accords fullest freedom of worship. Not only every one has a right to worship his God in his own way but
every God is also entitled to the worship of His own devotees. Freedom indeed, both for men as well as for
Gods. It was on this principle that early Christians enjoyed their freedom of worship.

^ Chosen ❖ People

The other side of the coin of a ^Jealous God^> is the concept of a ^Chosen Peopled or a Church
or Ummah. The chosen God has a chosen people (and even his chosen enemies). Both assist each other.
While their God helps the believers in fighting their neighbours, the believers help their God in fighting his
rival-Gods.

It is common for men and women everywhere to invoke the help of their Gods in their various
undertakings, big or small. But the God of the believers also calls upon them to fight for his greater glory,
to fight his enemies and to extend his dominion on the earth. In short, they are to become his swordsmen

and salesmen, his ^witnesseshis martyrs and Ghazis. They must fight not only their unbelieving

neighbours but also, even more specifically, their (neighbours^) Gods. For these Gods are not only the
Gods of their enemies, but they are also the enemies of their God, which is even worse.

The believers have taken this god-given mission seriously. The / 1e daya (Guidanc e), the Muslim Law
Book par excellence , quotes the Prophet and lays down: ^ We are directed to make war upon men until
such time as they shall confess. There is no God but Allah.

Earthly Reward

However, it is not all God and his glory all the time. The undertaking has its practical side too. The
crusaders are not without their earthly rewards. They work to extend the sovereignty of their God and, in
the process, their own too. A pious tradition proclaims that the earth belongs to Allah and his Prophet.
Therefore, the inescapable conclusion is that the infidels are merely squatters, and they should be
dispossessed and the land returned to its rightful owners, the believers.

Today, the intellectual fashion is to emphasize the political and economic aims of imperialism and to
neglect its theological component. But history shows that the most durable imperialisms have been those
which had the support of a continuing theological motive. Such imperialisms dominated without a
conscience - or, rather, whatever conscience they had supported their domination. The power of faith killed
all possible doubts and self-criticism.

^Hideaway Communal ism ^ quotes extensively from the Foreword of Maulana Abul-Hasan Ali Nadwi
which he contributed to the book .Hindustan under Islamic Rule. These quotes show that in its self¬
estimation and self-righteousness, the white-man^s burden of civilising the world is a poor match to
Is I am^s responsibility of bringing the earth under Allah and his Prophet.

Iconoclasm

Semitic ^My-Godism^ described as Monotheism has another dimension: Iconoclasm. In fact, the two
are two sides of the same coin. When worshippers of the Semitic God came into Contact with their
neighbours, it was not clear what they abhorred more, their Gods or their idols. In point of fact, they made
no such fine distinction. Trained as they were, they made war on both indiscriminately.

The Judaic God commands his worshippers that when they enter the land of their enemies, they will
^destroy their altars, and break their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graves images with

fire^> (Bible, Deut. 7.5). Perhaps the Judaic Revelation was meant to apply only to the territory of the
Promised Land; but when Christianity and, in due course, Islam became its proud inheritors and adopted
the Biblical God, its operation became university. Wherever the two creeds went, temple-razing followed.
Today, Christianity seems to present a different face but during the better part of its career it was stoutly
iconoclastic In the Mediterranean countries, in Northern Europe, in Asia and the two Americas, it destroyed
shrines of the pagans with unparalleled thoroughness and perfect self-satisfaction. When America was
discovered, the Benedictine monks who came in the train of Columbus boasted of having destroyed single-
handed 170,000 images in Haiti alone. Juan de Zummarage, the first Bishop of Mexico, writing as early as
1531, claimed that he destroyed 500 temples and 20,000 idols of the heathens. In our own country, in Goa,
Jesuit fathers destroyed many Hindu temples.

Islam did the same. Wherever it went, it carried fire and sword and destroyed the temples of the conquered
people. Goel has documented some of the cases but as he himself says they represent merely the tip of an
iceberg.

Islands Religious Policy

Like its monotheism, Semitic iconoclasm too was essentially a hegemonistic idea. No imperialism is
secure unless it destroys the pride, culture and valour of a conquered people. People who retain their
religions, their Gods and their priests make poor subjects and remain potential rebels.

Islam knew this and it developed a full-fledged theory of Religious domination. Temples were destroyed
not for their ^hoarded wealth^ as Marxist historians propagate - who ever heard of Hindus being
specially in the habit of hoarding their wealth in their temples? - nor were they destroyed by invaders in the
first flush of their victory. On the other hand, these formed part of a larger policy of religious persecution
which was followed in peace-time too when the Muslim rule was established. The policy of persecution
had a purpose-it was meant to keep down the people and to disarm them culturally and spiritually, to
destroy their pride and self-respect, and to remind them that they were Zimmis, an inferior breed.

According to this policy, Zimmis were allowed to exercise their religion in low key so long as they
accepted civic and political disabilities and paid Jizya ^in abasement^. There were many restrictions,

particularly in cities. The Muslim Law (Hedayci) lays down that ^as the tokens of Islam (such as public
prayers, festivals, and so forth) appear in the cities, Zimmis should not be permitted to celebrate the tokens
of infidelity there. Some of these restrictions placed on Hindu processions and celebrations still
continue. This is a legacy of the Muslim period.

The same law laid down that the infidels could not build new temples though they could repair old ones.
Probably this explains why there is no record of a worthwhile Hindu temple built since 1192 in Delhi. The
first such temple Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi, came up in 1938, after a
lapse of more than seven hundred years.

No Easy Solution

The foregoing discussion shows that the problem is not that of the Rama Janmabhumi Temple of Ayodhya,
or the Krishna Temple of Mathura or the Visveshvara Temple of Varanasi. In its deeper aspect, the
problem relates to an aggressive theology and political ideology which created an aggressive tradition of
history. Needless to say that the problem in all its huge dimensions admits of no easy solution. In an

ordinary situation, one could appeal from Philip drunk to Philip sober, from a matins passion to his reason
and conscience. But in the present case when Islamic theology is on the side of its historical practice and
its more aggressive aims, this option is hardly available. But even then while showing, by exercising
firmness, that aggression will not pay, we must yet be patient and understanding. We must realize that the
problem is not Muslims but Islamor Islamic theology. Therefore, this theology needs a more critical
examination than has been hitherto done. We must properly study Revelatory religions, their Gods and
their prophets, their theories of special covenants and favoured ummahs, their doctrine of one God andtwo
humanities, their categories of believers and infidels or pagans, their theory of Prophetism, their divinely
ordained mission to convert and crusade.

It is a task which needs the creative labour of all seekers and articulators of truth. Closed creeds are a
threat both to deeper spirituality and to deeper humanity, and they badly need some sort of glasnost ,
openness and freedom. A wider discussion will help them to open up.

In this task, Muslim intellectuals can play an important role. In fact, it is expected of them. It may start a
new process of rethinking among the Muslims on their fundamentals - a different and truer sort of
fundamentalism than they have hitherto known.

It is also a task which imposes an inescapable duty on Hindu-Buddhist thinkers with their inheritance of
Yoga. In fact, Indians Yoga has a lot to contribute to the discussion. We are told that Revelations come
from Gods. But from another angle. Revelations and Gods themselves come from man and his psyche, as
Yoga teaches us. This psyche in turn has its various levels of purity and inwardness and every level
projects its own God, Revelation and Theology. Therefore, not all Gods and Revelations have the same
purity. In fact, some of them are not worthy enough and they support an equally questionable politics.

Such a conclusion may disappoint many Hindu wise men who fondly cling to the belief that all religions
are the same and all prophets preach and say the same things. But they must learn not to evade issues and
even while seeking unities, they must yet learn to recognise differences where they exist.

At the end, we again return to ^Hideaway Communalism^ which tells us of ^evasion and

concealment^ and the need to ^face the truth. However, the sorry fact is that in order to avoid facing
truth we have built up an elaborate system of evasion and concealment which protects not merely
^hideaway communalism^, but also shields and even fosters more sinister forces of a ^hideaway

Imperialism^ and a ^hideaway theology^ which distorts relations between man and Gods and between
man and man. The need is to become aware of the problem at a deeper level and in its larger antecedents
and consequences.

Indian Express, June 18,1989

Chapter Six

Historians Versus History

Ram Swarup

Wole Soyinka, African Nobel Laureate, delivering the 20th Nehru Memorial Lecture on November 13,
1988, made an important though by no means a new observation - that the colonial histories have been

written from the European viewpoint. Speaking about Indian histories, he said that ^there is a big

question mark on everything that the British historians have written^. He added that serious efforts are

being made by historians back home ^>to rewrite African history.^

We do not know what this project involves and how it is faring in Africa, but in India efforts in this
direction have yielded meagre results. Not that there has been a dearth of rewriters, but their talent has not
been equal to their zeal.

The phrase ^re-writing of history^ leaves a bad taste in the mouth and it is offensive to our sense of
truth. Recent instances of rewriting have not helped to improve the image of the task and they inspired
little confidence. In most cases one did not know where legitimate rewriting ended and forgery began. In
practical terms, it has meant that history is written to support the latest party line, or the latest dictator.

What does, therefore, the rewriting of history mean? How far can we go in that direction? Does it mean
saying good-bye to all sense of truth and objectivity, or does it mean only restoring some neglected truths
and perspective? Some have looked at our present through the eyes of the past, but will it be any better to
look at our past through the eyes of the present, or even go further and write about our past and present-in

the spirit of ^socialist realism^-in terms of the future, in terms of tasks conceived and planned by
our avante garde for the future of the country?

There are other related questions. Is the European history of Asia and Africa all wrong and does it need
wholesale replacement? Or does it also have some valuable elements, particularly in its methodology if not

in its conclusions, which should be retained and even further developed? In the Indian context, is the
British history of India monolithic, all painted black by motivated historians? Or, is it also pluralistic and

contains many views, some of them highly appreciative of the country's culture, philosophy and artistic
creations?

And also, looked at objectively, apart from the intentions of the writers and even in spite of their jaundiced
views, have not their histories sometimes helped us to become better aware of our past and made us in

some ways rediscover ourselves in the limited sense in which the words ^past^ and rediscovery^ are
understood today?

To hold that all British history of India was wrong will be highly unrealistic and will have few buyers.
True, many British, historians were prejudiced. But there were also others who had genuine curiosity and
in spite of their pre-conceived notions, they tried to do their job faithfully in the spirit of objectivity. In the
pursuit of their researches, they applied methods followed in Europe. They collected, collated and
compared old manuscripts. They desciphered old, forgotten scripts and in the process discovered an
important segment of our past. They developed linguistics, archaeology, carbon-dating, numismatics; they
found for us ample evidence of India in Asia. They discovered for us much new data, local and
international. True, many times they tried to twist this data and put fanciful constructions on it, but this
new respect for facts imposed its own discipline and tended to evolve objective criteria. Because of the
objective nature of the criteria, their findings did not always support their prejudices and preconceived
notions. For example, their data proved that India represented an ancient culture with remarkable
continuity and widespread influence and that it had a long and well-established tradition of self-rule and
self-governing republics, and free institutions and free discussion.

However, while admitting these positive factors, it is also true that the British historians distorted Indian
history on some most essential points. The distortion was not conscious but was unconscious; however, it
was not less real and potent on that account.

British Historians

The mind of British scholars was shaped by their position as rulers of a fast-expanding Empire and by its
need to consolidate itself ideologically and politically. As rulers, they felt a new racial and cultural
superiority and, reinforced by their religion, developed a strong conviction of their civilizing mission.

Many of them also felt a great urge to bring the blessings of Christian morals and a Christian God to a
benighted paganhood, as long as the attempt did not endanger the Empire.

The rulers had also more palpable political needs. The subject people should have no higher notion of their
past beyond their present status, which they should also learn to accept without murmur and even with
thankfulness. The British rulers had an interest in telling the Indian people that the latter had never been a
nation but a conglomerate of miscellaneous people drawn from diverse sources and informed by no
principle of unity; that their history had been an history of invaders and conquerors and that they had never
known indigenous rule; and that, indeed, they were indifferent to self-rule and that so long as their village-
life was intact, they did not bother who ruled at the Centre. All these lessons were tirelessly taught and
dutifully learnt, so much so that even after the British have left, these assumptions and categories still shape
our larger political thinking and historical perspective. That India is multi-racial, multi-national, multi-
linguistic, multi-cultural painfully trying to acquire a principle of unity under their aegis is also the
assumption of our own new leaders and elite.

These were the basic attitudes and unspoken interests that shaped the minds of the British historians, but
within this framework there was room enough for individual preferences and temperamental peculiarities.
Some of them could show their genuine appreciation for Hindu language, grammar, architecture, and other,
cultural achievements, but this appreciation would not go beyond a certain point, nor in a direction which
began to feed the people's wider national consciousness and pride in themselves as an ancient nation. In

this respect too, our intellectual elite follow the lead of the British scholars. Many of them-unless they are
Marxists or Macaulayists - are not without a measure of appreciation and pride for some of our old cultural
creations. But this appreciation does not extend to that larger culture itself which put forth those creations,
and that religion and spirit in which that culture was rooted and those people and that society which upheld
that religion and that culture.

We are told that the British highlighted Hindu-Muslim differences. They certainly did. But they had no
interest in telling the Indians that their forefathers shared a common religion, that some of them got
converted under peculiar circumstances, that those circumstances were no longer valid, and that they
should not lose their consciousness of their original and wider fold. On the other hand, the way the British
wrote their history perpetuated the myth of a Muslim rule and a Muslim period which could not but
accentuate Hindu-Muslim differences and promote Muslim separatism.

The main interest of the British was to write a history which justified their presence in India. They were
imperial rulers and by their situation and function they felt a bond of sympathy and affinity with the rulers
that had preceded them. They held India by the right of conquest; therefore, they had to recognise the
legitimacy of this right in the case of the Moghuls, the Afghans and the Arabs too.

But this justification was too crude and naked for the British conscience. To assuage it, the British offered
a legal and moral alibi. They held that they were legitimate successors of the Moghuls and represented

continuity with Indians past. The Moghuls were presented as empire builders, those who united India and
gave it law and order, peace and stability - the natural blessings of an Imperial order. And the British
themselves were merely the successors of the Imperial rights of the Moghuls and upheld the Imperial
authority of Delhi. Whatever elevated Moghul authority at Delhi, elevated their imperial authority too.

Facts sometimes compelled the British historians to speak of cruelties and vandalism of the Muslim rule
but this did not stop them from upholding its authority. For they knew that the myth of Imperialism is one
and that the glory of the Moghul rulers and the myth of their invincibility added to the glory and the myth
of the British Empire itself.

Thus all these factors made the British give a new boost to the Muslim rule in India. While trying to
legitimise their own rule, they also gave to their predecessor a kind of legitimacy which they never had in
the eyes of the Indian people. In fact, in the larger national consciousness, the Muslim rule had as little
legitimacy as the British rule had later on. Both were considered as foreign impositions and resisted as
such as far as time, opportunity and the prevailing power equation allowed it.

But by the same token and for the same reason this resistance, long and stubborn, was underplayed by
British historians and presented as revolts^ or ^►rebellions'^ against the legitimate Imperial authority
of the Centre. They felt, and quite rightly from their viewpoint, that Indian history should have nothing to
show that its people waged many battles and repulsed many invaders. Thus, in this way, India came to
have a history which is the history of its invaders, whose dominion its people accepted meekly.

Muslim Historians

Even before the British came on the stage, Muslim historians had written similar histories. Those histories
were mostly annals written by scribes or munshis employed by Muslim kings. The task of these annalists
was to glorify Islam and their immediate patrons, a task which they performed with great zeal and rhetoric.
In the performance of this task, they resorted to no moral or intellectual disguise. The glory of Islam and

the extension of Darul-Islam (the Muslim equivalent of the British ^►Empire was self-justified and
needed no artificial props. They spoke of the massacres of the infidels, of their forcible conversions, of
their temples raced and of similar tyrannies perpetrated with great rejoice, as Sir H.M. Elliot points out.

^Ilindu^ Historians

The results were no better when the annalist employed happened to be a Hindu. Elliot again observes that
from ^one of that nation we might have expected to have learnt what were the feelings, hopes, faiths,
fears, and yearnings, of his subject race,^> but this was not to be. On the other hand, in his writing, there is
^►nothing to betray his religion or his nation^ With him, a Hindu is an ^Hnfidel^, and a Muhammadan
^one of true faith^,^> With him, when Hindus are killed, ^their souls are despatched to hell and
when a Muhammadan suffers the same fate, he ^drinks the cup of martyrdom^ He speaks of the
flight of Islam shedding its refulgence on the world

But what comes next intrigues Elliot even more. Even after the tyrant was no more and the falsification of
history through terror was no longer necessary (Elliot quotes Tacitus : Teberii ac Neronis res ob metum

falsae), he finds that there is still ^not one of this slavish crew who treats the history of his native country
subjectively, or presents us with the thoughts, emotions, and raptures which a long oppressed race might be
supposed to give vent to.

This tribe of Hindu munshis or the ^slavish crew^ of Elliot have a long life and show a remarkable
continuity. Instead of diminishing, their number has multiplied with time. Today, they dominate the
universities, the media and the country's political thinking.

They were reinforced by another set of historians - those who carry the British tradition. One very
important thing in common with them is that they continue to look at India through the eyes of Muslim and
British rulers even long after their rule has ceased.

Elliot regards the problem with moral indignation but the phenomenon involves deep psychological and
sociological factors. It is more complex than the question of patronage enjoyed or tyranny withdrawn.

Hindus have lived under very trying circumstances for many centuries and during this time their psyche
suffered much damage. Short term tyranny may prove a challenge but long-term, sustained tyranny tends
to benumb and dehumanize. Under continued military and ideological attack, many Hindus lost initiative
and originality; they lost naturalness and self-confidence; they lost pride in themselves, pride in their past
and in their history and in their nation. They learnt to live a sort of underground life, furtively and
apologetically. Some tried to save their self-respect by identifying themselves with the thoughts and

sentiments of the rulers. They even adopted the rulers^ contempt for their own people.

These attitudes imbibed over a long period have become our second nature, and they have acquired an
independence and dynamism of their own. We have begun to look at ourselves through the eyes of our
rulers.

Post-Independence Period

One would have thought that all this would change after we attained Independence, but this did not
happen. It shows that to throw off an intellectual and cultural yoke is far more difficult than to throw off a
political yoke.

By and large we have retained our old history written by our rulers. The leaders of the nationalist
movement are quite content with it, except that they have added to it one more chapter at the end which

depicts them in a super-heroic role. The new leaders have no greater vision of Indian history and they look
forward to no greater task than to perpetuate themselves.

In fact they have developed a vested interest in old history which propagates that India was never a nation,
that it had not known any freedom or freedom-struggle in the past. By sheer contrast, it exalts their role
and proves something they would like to believe - that they are the first nation-builders, that they led the
first freedom struggle India has ever known and, indeed, she became free for the first time under their
aegis. This highly flatters their ego, and to give themselves this unique status we find that their attacks on

Indians past are as vicious and ignorant as those of the British and Muslim historians. No wonder
histories continue to be written with all the contempt we learnt to feel for our past, and with all the lack of
understanding we developed for our culture during the days of foreign domination.

A new source of distortion was opened during the period of the freedom struggle itself. Nationalist leaders
strove to win Muslim support for the Independence struggle. In the hope of achieving this end, Indian
nationalism itself began to rewrite the history of medieval times. Under this motivation, Muslim rule

became ^indigenousand Muslim kings became ^national ^ kings, and even nationalists, those who
fought them began to receive a low score. R.C. Mojumdar tells us how, under this motivation, national
leaders created an ^imaginary history^, one of them even proclaiming that ^Hindus were not at all a
subject race during the Muslim rule,^ and how ^these absurd notions, which would have been laughed at
by Indian leaders at the beginning of the 19th century, passed current as history at the end of that
century^.

Marxist Distortions

Marxists have taken to rewriting Indian history on a large scale and it has meant its systematic
falsification. They have a dogmatic view of history and for them the use of any history is to prove their
dogma. Their very approach is hurtful to truth. But this is a large subject and we would not go into it here,
even though it is related intimately to the subject under discussion.

The Marxists^ contempt for India, particularly the India of religion, culture and philosophy, is deep and
theoretically fortified. It exceeds the contempt ever shown by the most die-hard imperialists. Some of the
British had an orientalises fascination for the East or an administrator's paternal concern for their wards,
but Marxists suffer from no such sentimentality. The very ^Asiatic mode of production^ was primitive

and any, ^►superstructure^ of ideas and culture built on that foundation must be barbaric too and it had
better go.

Not many realize how thoroughly European Marx was in his orientation. He treated all Asia and Africa as
an appendage of the West and, indeed, of the Anglo-Saxon Great Britain. He borrowed all his theses on

India from British rulers and fully subscribed to them. With them he believes that ^Indian society has no
history at all, at least no known historye and that what ^we call its history, is the history of successive

intruders.^ With them he also believes that India ^Hias neither known nor cared for self-rule.^ In fact, he
rules out self-rule for India altogether and in this matter gives her no choice. He says that the question is
^►not whether the English bad a right to conquer India, but whether we are to prefer India conquered by the
Turk, by the Persian, by the Russian, to India conquered by the Briton.^ His own choice was clear.

Indian Marxists fully accept this thesis, except that they are also near-equal admirers of the ❖Turkish^
conquest of India. Indian Marxists get quite lyrical about this conquest and find quite fulfilment in it. Let
us illustrate the point with the example of M.N. Roy. We are told that he gave up Marxism but he kept

enough of it to retain his admiration for Muslim Imperialism. He admires the ❖historical role of Islam ❖
in a book of the same name and praises the ❖Arab Empire^ as a ❖magnificent monument to the memory
of Mohammad. ❖ He hails Muslim invasion of India and tells us how ❖it was welcomed as a message of
hope and freedom by the multitudinous victims of Brahmanical reaction. ❖

Earlier, Roy had spoken of ❖our country^ which ❖had become almost liberated from the Moslem

Empire.❖ But that was long ago when he was merely a nationalist and had not come under the influence of
Marxism. Marxism teaches a new appreciation for Imperialism; it idealises old Imperialisms and prepares
a people for a new one. Its moving power is deep-rooted self-alienation and its greatest ally is cultural and
spiritual illiteracy.

Marxist writers and historians of a sort are all over the place and they are well entrenched in the academic
and media sectors. They have a great say in University appointments and promotions, in the awarding of
research grants, in drawing up syllabi, and in the choosing and prescribing of text-books. No true history of
India is possible without countering their philosophy, ideas and influence.

Indian Express, January 15,1989

Chapter Seven

November 9 Will Change History

Jay Dubashi

What is the need of the hour, someone asked me the other day. Is it stability, is it unity, is it communal
peace? It is none of these things, I told him. The need of the hour is COURAGE.

We Hindus have become a timid race, almost a cowardly race. We lack the courage of our convictions.
Some of us don^t even have any convictions, and have been trying to hide our shame under high-sounding
but empty phrases like secularism. For the last so many centuries, the history of the Hindus has been
created by non-Hindus, first the Moghuls, then the British. Even today, the Hindus are being denied their
right to write their own history, which, to me, is almost like genocide. Until we write our own history, this
land cannot be ours.

Upendra Baxi, director of the Indian Law Institute and a noted jurist, said the other day that ❖when the
foundation of the proposed Ram Temple will be put up in Ayodhya, it will change decisively the history of
India and no amount of condemnation of the Indian psyche or public self-flagellation will change that

history. ❖ He is right. The whole purpose of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement is to change the history of
India, nothing less, nothing more.

Those who do not see this do not know what India is. For the first time in several centuries, the history of
India is being made by Indians, call them Hindu, call them anything else, if the word Hindu sticks in your

gullet, as it did in Nehru^s. The Ayodhya movement is therefore a historic movement, far more historic

than Gandhi ❖s Dandi March or the Quit India Movement.

Freedom does not mean flying your own flag or having your own government. Freedom means making
your own history, writing it in your own blood on the pages of Time. As I said earlier, fate precluded us

from doing so for so many centuries. Now the time has come to open up the pages of Time and begin
writing what every great race in this world has been doing for so long, every great race except the Hindus.

Small-minded people like Namboodiripad or editors of Indo-Anglian papers who bring out special editions
at Christmas time but never on Diwali, will not understand this, because they do not know Indian history.
Whatever little they understand has been learnt from foreign historians, and from foreign books like Das
Capital. We must pity these men. Namboodiripad thinks that the Ayodhya movement is communal, a word
he has learnt from the British, for whom some of his friends spied, and he repeats it parrot-like, as children
do their lessons in schools. Communists are political parrots who have been intoning Marx for years
without realising that the man is already out of date. All over Europe, his corpse is being exhumed for
public exhibition. But Indian communists are half a century behind everybody else, including their own
brethren elsewhere. Because their own faith has come down crumbling, and that too in less than three
quarters of a century, they have started cursing other faiths.

But we Hindus were not born yesterday. We were not born in the British Museum and did not emerge from
dog-eared copies of ancient history books. We are history personified, history with a capital H. And we are

going to survive for another five thousand years, not just fifty years, as Namboodiripad gods did.

I simply cannot understand what is so communal about a community trying to build a temple, the most
honourable of acts, in their own land. Would anyone deny Catholics their right to put up a church in
Rome? Would anyone say no if the Saudis wanted to build a mosque in Mecca? Why on earth should there
be a mosque in Ayodhya of all places? How would they feel if someone tried to build a Rama temple in
Mecca? The Babari mosque was built by Babar who had no business to be in India. He came here as a
conqueror but the right of a conqueror ceases as soon as he ceases to be a conqueror. This country is now

ours, not Babar^s and what is all this freedom worth if we cannot undo a wrong? That is also what history
is, the undoing of a patently wrong act committed by a conqueror in the full flush of power. This is what I
meant when I said that we are going to re-write history, for, I repeat again, that is precisely the meaning of
freedom.

I consider the time we were under foreign conquerors, no matter where they came from and who they were-
and also how they came-as the most shameful time of our history. This is what Gandhi also said and that is
why we vowed to throw the British out. If the British were foreigners, so were the Moghuls, and so is
everything they left behind. We have taken over old British firms and Indianised them. We have taken
over their railways, their ports and harbours, their buildings, their offices, even their vice-regal house. We
would have been perfectly within our rights to demolish their leftovers including the vice-regal house.
Mahatma Gandhi actually wanted to turn that house into a hospital.

Surely, if we can do all that, we can also take over their churches and cathedrals, as also those of other
conquerors that preceded them. We have not, done that, but I do not see why not. If the descendants of
these conquerors believe that their houses of worship are too important to be treated like other buildings
they left behind, surely you cannot blame the Hindus if they think that their houses of worship are also too
important to be defiled by foreigners. What is good for others, is also good for us. You cannot have one
law for others, just because they happen to be in a minority, and another for the majority because it happens
to be too generous, or too timid to fight back.

Make no mistake. We are going to change history and we have begun doing so on November 9, 1989.

Organiser, November 19,1989

Chapter Eight

From Shilanyas to Berlin Wall

lay Dubashi

History has its quirks but there is a method behind the madness. I said in my last column that November 9,
1989, would go down in Indian history as one of those dates that actually make history. I was not aware at
the time that on the very same day the first brick of the Ramshila foundation was being laid at Ayodhya, the
Berliners were removing bricks from the Berlin Wall. While a temple was going up in Ayodhya, a
communist temple was being demolished five thousand miles away in Europe. If this is not history, I do not
know what is.

There hasn^t been a squeak out of our commie friends on Berlin Wall, or, for that matter, on the turmoil in

the communist world that now lies as shattered as Hitler^s fascist empire after the last war. Where is our
great Mr. Know-All, the ultra-verbose pandit of Kerala who only the other day was lecturing us poor
Hindus on the pitfalls of communalism? Where is Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the great oracle of Punjab, who
since his operation in Moscow, seems to have given up the ghost altogether? Even their great Natural Ally,
the one and only Vishwanath Pratap Singh, has not said a word about the Berlin Wall, though he keeps
advising us about what to do in Ayodhya, or rather what not to do.

The two events, one at Ayodhya and the other in Berlin, are not unrelated. They are like the two events in
Einstein^ s relativity theory which appear totally unconnected but are not.

They mark the end of the post-Nehru era and the beginning of a truly national era in India on the one hand,
and the end of the post-communist era and the beginning of a truly democratic era in Europe on the other.
History has rejected Nehru in India and also overthrown communism in Europe. It is not an accident that
the two events are taking place at the same time. Both Nehruism and communism were phoney creeds,
though it has taken us a long time to see through the phoneyness. Some of us had seen it a long ago, but
there were others, the so-called leftists and progressives, who had not. The scales have still not fallen from
their eyes, but that is now only a matter of time.

The phoniest are the so-called radical humanists in India, who have given up communist clothes but not the
authoritarian way of thinking, which is the hallmark of communism. Their reaction to all popular
movements is authoritarian. These men helped the British during the Quit India Movement-just as their
brethren the commies did-on the ground that an Allied victory was more important than freedom for India.
Now they are saying the same thing.

According to the Tarkundes and other phoneys, the Nehru version of secularism is more important than
full-blooded Hindu nationalism, which is what the Ayodhya movement signifies. The Tarkundes even went
to the court on the issue asking its help in stopping the Shilapujan.

The Pujan was a perfectly democratic affair carried on peacefully by citizens of this country who happen to
be in a majority. If Indians do not have a right to have temples in their own country, who has?

But this is not the way these secular worthies look upon the issue. These men are elitist by nature and for
them any popular movement, no matter how democratic and mass-based, is almost ipso fact suspect if it
does not meet their prejudiced convictions. This is Stalinism of the worst kind, the kind that led to the
building of the Berlin Wall, one of the ugliest structures in the world.

Who is Tarkunde to decide that a temple in Ayodhya is anti-social? Who was M.N. Roy to decide that
Gandhi ^s Quit India Movement was anti-national and not in national interest? Who are these men who
mock history and then are bloodied by it? They belong to the same class as Stalin in Soviet Russia and
Hitler in Nazi Germany, who presume to know what is good for you and me, the ordinary mortals. And
these man will go the same dusty way as the tyrants whose bodies are now being exhumed all over the
Soviet empire and thrown to the vultures.

The men who presume to think what is good for the man in the street are the most dangerous species and
should be locked up in asylums. Jawaharlal Nehru was one such man. He knew what was good for you and
me, just as Stalin and Hitler did, and for almost 20 years went on forcing his ideas on this hapless country.
He and his advisers decided how much steel we should have and how much electricity. They decided who
should get paid what, and who should import what. They laid down laws for who should produce what and
where, and whether a particular industry should be given to Tatas or Birlas or some babus in the
government. What was the basis for these decisions? None at all. Simply an arrogant assumption that the
Big Brother knows best what is good for you, and you should not ask too many questions.

Those who went to court on the Ayodhya issue are the same Mr. Know-Alls, the arrogant busybodies who
presume to know what is good for us. This presumptuousness-that masses do not matter and do not count-

was the core of the Marxist doctrine of which Nehru^s phoney socialism and 'Parklindens equally phoney
radical humanism are offshoots. What they have not still grasped-but Mikhail Gorbachev has-is that this is
precisely the reason Marxism failed wherever it has been put to work, and why Nehruism has failed in
India.

That is also the reason why there was no enthusiasm whatsoever for th esarkari jamboree in the name of the
Nehru centenary year, for the common man in India is a victim of this Nehruism just as the common man in

Russia is the victim of communism. And in healthy societies, victims doiv^t celebrate centenaries of
tyrants.

There are a number of Nehru men in India, not only in the ruling party- but also in the opposition and we
must be on guard against them. But this generation is on its way out, though their flame may flicker for a
while.

The post-Nehru era began at Ayodhya on November 9, and it will gather momentum in the years to come,
just as the post-communist era in Europe and elsewhere. It will not be an easy task, but no great task is
easy.

Organiser, November 26,1989

Footnotes:

1 The ruling Party, at the time this article was written, was the Indian National Congress.

Chapter Nine

Rama-Janmabhumi Temple Muslim Testimony

Harsh Narain

All relevant British government records followed by the District Gazetteer Faizabad compiled and
published by the Congress government in 1960 declare with one voice that the so-called Babari mosque at
Ayodhya is standing on the debris of a Ramjanmasthan temple demolished by the order of Babar in 1528.

Syed Shahabuddin, JNU historians, and. self-styled ^secular^ scholars and leaders are hotly contesting
that the existence and demolition of such a temple is a myth floated by the British in pursuance of their
policy of ^divide and rilled. Syed Shahabuddin and many Muslim divines go a step further and assert
that neither Babar nor any other Muslim for that matter would take into his head to erect a mosque by
displacing a temple, for, they argue, such a mosque would not be a mosque in the eye of the Shari ^ah and
would be liable to demolition by the Muslims themselves.

With this idea in mind, Syed Shahabuddin is going about proclaiming that, if it is shown independently of
the British sources that the Babari mosque has displaced a temple, he would pull it down with his own
hands and hand it over to the Hindus.

The challenge is worth taking, and I hereby do it with good grace, on behalf of those who place truth above
politics.

Well, granting for the nonce that the Babari mosque cannot be shown to have displaced a temple, there are
certain other mosques which can indisputably be shown to have done so. Is Syed Shahabuddin prepared to
keep his word in the case of such mosques? It is common knowledge that most of the mosques built by the

Muslim invaders stand on land grabbed or extorted from the Kafirs. And what about the Kabbah itself?

Sayyid Shahabuddin Abdur Rahman, the well known Muslim historian who died in an accident recently,
modifies the stand of the Muslim divines thus: ❖it is also thinkable that some mosque was erected close to
or at a short distance from a temple demolished for some special reason, but never was a mosque built on
the site of a temple anywhere. ❖ (See his Babri Masjid, 3rd print, Azamgarh: Darul Musannifin Shibli
Academy, 1987, p. 19.)

As regards the verdict of the Shari ❖ah, it is true that there are theologico-juristic rulings to the effect that

no mosque can be built on land grabbed or illegally/illegitimately acquired. See for example the

great Fatawa-i Alamgiri, Vol. 16, p 214. But the question is. Do they hold true for land acquired in Jihad as

well? The answer has to be an emphatic ❖No^. The Prophet has made it clear that all land belongs to God
or the Prophet (A &lamu arm ❖/ -arza li &llah-i wa rasul-i-hi), and, obviously, through the Prophet to the
Muslims (Bukhari, II, Kitab al-Jibad wa^s- Siyar, Hadith 406). Iqbal puts the following words, in a
Persian verse, into the mouth of Tariq, the great conqueror of Spain : Har mulk mulk-i ma 4>st ki mulk-i

Khuda-i ma &st. That is, all land belongs to the Muslims, because it belongs to their God. Ibn Taymiyyah,
the 14th century theologian and jurist, argues that Jihad simply restores lands to the Muslims, to whom they
rightly belong. This serves to vouchsafe to them the moral right to extort lands in Jihad from others.

Thus, the argument from the Shari ❖ah has no leg to stand upon.

Now, I proceed to cite certain purely Muslim sources beyond the sphere of British influence to show that
the Babari mosque has displaced a Hindu temple-the Ramjanmasthan temple, to be precise-wholly or
partly.

First, an indirect evidence. In an application dated November 30, 1858, filed by one Muhammad Ashghar,
Khatib and Mu^azzin, Babari Masjid, to initiate legal proceedings against ❖Bairagiyan-i Janmasthan^,
the Babari mosque has been called ❖masjid-i Janmasthan ❖ and the courtyard near the arch and the pulpit

within the boundary of the mosque, ❖maqam Janmasthan ka^. The Bairagis had raised a platform in the
courtyard which the applicant wanted to be dismantled. He has mentioned that the place of Janmasthan had
been lying unkempt/in disorder ( parishan ) for hundreds of years and that the Hindus performed worship
there ( maqam Janmasthan ka sad-ha baras se parishan para rahta tha. Ahl-i Himudpuja karte they). See
Sayyid Shahabuddin Abdur Rahman, op, cit., pp. 29-30. Well, if the Babari mosque is the Janmasthan
mosque, its courtyard is the Janmasthan, and the Hindus had all along been carrying out their worship, all
that implies that there must have been some construction there as part of a (Janmasthan) temple, which Mir

Baqi partly demolished and partly converted into the existing Babari mosque, with or without Babar^s
approval. And the Hindus had no alternative but to make do with the temple-less courtyard. Otherwise, it is

simply unthinkable that they might have been performing worship for such a long time and on such a
sacred place without a proper temple.

Failure of Jihad

My second document is the Hadiqah-i Shuhada by one Mirza Jan, an eyewitness as well as active
participant in the Jihad led by Amir Ali Amethawi during Wajid Ali ShahSs regime in 1855 for recapture
of Hanuman Garhi (a few hundred yards from the Babari mosque) from the Hindus. The book was ready
just after the failure of the Jihad and saw the light of day in the following year, viz. in 1856, at Lucknow.

RaSis Ahmad Jafari has included it as chapter IX in his book entitled Wajid Ali Shah aur Un-ka

Ahd (Lucknow: Kitab Manzil, 1957), after, however, omitting what he considered unnecessary but without

adding a word from his side.

Now, let us see what information we gather from it, germane to our enquiry. Mirza Jan states that
Swherever they found magnificent temples of the Hindus ever since the establishment of Sayyid Salar
Mas Slid GhaziSs rule, the Muslim rulers in India built mosques, monasteries, and inns, appointed

muSazzins, teachers, and store-stewards, spread Islam vigorously, and vanquished the Kafirs. Likewise,
they cleared up Faizabad and Avadh, too, from the filth of reprobation (infidelity), because it was a great
centre of worship and capital of Ramans father. Where there stood the great temple (of Ramjanmasthan),
there they built a big mosque, and, where there was a small mandap (pavilion), there they erected a camp
mosque (masjid-i mukhtasar-i qanati ). The Janmasthan temple is the principal place of Ramans
incarnation, adjacent to which is the Sita ki Rasoi. Hence, what a lofty mosque was built there by king
Babar in 923 A. H. (1528 A.D.), under the patronage of Musa Ashiqan! The mosque is still known far and
wide as the Sita ki Rasoi mosque. And that temple is extant by its side ( aur pahlu mein wah dair baqi

hai )S (p. 247).

It must be borne in mind that Mirza Jan claims to write all this on the basis of older records ( kutub-i
sabiqah ) and contemporary accounts.

My third document is a chapter of the Muraqqah-i Khusrawi, otherwise known as the Tarikh-i Avadh, by
Shykh Azamat Ali Kakorawi Nami (1811-1893), who happened to be an eyewitness to much that happened

during Wajid Ali ShahSs regime. The work was completed in 1869 but could Pot see the light of day for
over a century. Only one manuscript of it is extant and that is in the Tagore Library of Lucknow University.
A press copy of it was prepared by Dr. Zaki Kakorawi for publication with the financial assistance of the
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Memorial Committee, U.P., Lucknow. The committee vetoed the publication of its
chapter dealing with the Jihad led by Amir Ali Amethawi for recapture of Hanuman Garhi from the
Bairagis, from its funds, on the ground that its publication would not be opportune in view of the prevailing
political situation, with the result that Dr. Kakorawi had to publish the book minus that chapter in 1986, for
the first time. Later, however, lie published the chapter separately, and independently of any financial or
other assistance from the committee in 1987 from the Markaz-i Adab-i Urdu 137, Shahganj, Lucknow-3,

under the title &Amir Ali Shahid aur Ma 4hkah-i Hanuman Garhi S.

It is a pity that, thanks to our thoughtless SsecularismS and waning sense of history, such primary
sources of medieval Indian history are presently in danger of suppression or total extinction. Dr. Kakorawi
himself laments that ^suppression of any part of any old composition or compilation like this can create
difficulties and misunderstandings for future historians and researchersS (p. 3).

Well, what light does our author, Shykh Muhammad Azamat Ali Kakorawi Nami, have to throw on the
issue of demolition versus non-existence of the Janmasthan temple? The opening paragraph of his book is

akin to the passage quoted above from Mirza Jan^s Hadiqah-i Shuhada. I give below the paragraph in the

authors own words, omitting very few details: ^According to old records, it has been a rule with the
Muslim rulers from the first to build mosques, monasteries, and inns, spread Islam, and put (a stop to) non-
Islamic practices, wherever they found prominence (of kufr). Accordingly, even as they cleared up
Mathura, Bindraban, etc., from the rubbish of non-Islamic practices, the Babari mosque was built up in
923(?) A.H. under the patronage of Sayyid Musa Ashiqan in the Janmasthan temple (butkhane Janmasthan

mein ) in Faizabad-Avadh, which was a great place of (worship) and capital of Ramans father^ (p. 9).

^ Among the Hindus it was known as Sita ki Rasoi (p. 10). The passage has certain gaps, thanks to the
wretched condition of the manuscript, which I have tried to fill within brackets.

Dr. Kakorawi has appended to the book an excerpt from the Fasanah-i Ibrat by the great early Urdu
novelist. Mirza Rajab Ali Beg Surur (1787-1867), which constitutes our fourth document. It says that ^>a
great mosque was built on the spot where Sita ki Rasoi is situated. During the regime of Babar, the Hindus
had no guts to be a match for the Muslims. The mosque was built in 923(?) A.H. under the patronage of

Sayyid Mir Ashiqan Aurangzeb built a mosque on the Hanuman Garhi The Bairagis effaced the
mosque and erected a temple in its place. Then idols began to be worshipped openly in the Babari mosque
where the Sita ki Rasoi is situated,^ (pp. 71-72). The author adds that ^formerly, it is Shykh Ali
Hazings observation which held good^ and quotes the following Persian couplet of the Shykh:

Bi-bin karamat-i butkhanah-i mara aiy Shaikh!

Ki chun kharab shawad khanah-i Khuda garded

Which means: O Shykh! just witness the miracle of my house of idols, which, when desecrated, or
demolished, becomes the house of God (a mosque). So, purporting to mean that formerly temples were

demolished for construction of mosques, the author, Surur, laments that ^the times have so changed that

now the mosque was demolished for construction of a temple (on the Hanuman Garhi)^ (p. 72).

Clinching the Issue

The forming four-fold documentary evidence leads us to certain incontrovertible conclusions, which can be
stated as under:

1. That, in their zeal to hit Hinduism and spread Islam, the Muslim rulers had the knack of desecrating or
demolishing Hindu temples and erecting mosques, etc., in their place-bigger mosques in place of bigger
temples and smaller mosques in place of smaller temples.

2. That there did exist a temple called the temple of Janmasthan at Ayodhya, where Rama is believed to
have incarnated and that adjacent to it was what is called Sita ki Rasoi, which might originally have been
part of it.

3. That, like Muslim rulers who desecrated Mathura, Vrindavana, etc., Babar chose Ayodhya for spread of
Islam and replacement of temples by mosques, thanks to its supreme importance as a holy place of the
Hindus, and in 1528, under the patronage of Sayyid Mir Musa Ashiqan, got the so-called Babari mosque
erected in displacement of the Rama Janmasthan temple, certain relics of which appear to have persisted at
least till 1855.

4. That the Babari mosque was also called ^►masjid-i Janmasthan^ and ^►masjid-i Sita ki Rasoi^> from
long before 1855.

5. That the Hindus had long been carrying on worship at the Rama Janmasthan even after the replacement
of the Janmasthan temple by the Babari mosque.

6. That the foregoing facts are yielded by authentic Muslim records and have not been fabricated by the
much-maligned British to ^divide and rilled.

These conclusions are irresistible and should clinch the issue of demolition versus non-existence of the
Ramjanmasthan temple.

Indian Express, February 26,1990

Chapter Ten

Let the Mute Witnesses Speak

Sita Ram Goel

The cradle of Hindu culture- on the eve of its Islamic invasion included what are at present the Sinkiang
province of China, the Transoxiana region of Russia, the Seistan province of Iran and the sovereign states
of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The Islamic invasion commenced around 650 A.D.,
when a Muslim army secured a foothold in Seistan, and continued till the end of the eighteenth century,
when the last Islamic crusader, Tipu Sultan, was overthrown by the British. Hordes of Arabs, Persians,
Turks, and Afghans who had been successively inspired by the Theology of Islam poured in, in wave after
wave, carrying fire and sword to every nook and corner of this vast area. In the process, Sinkiang,

Transoxiana region, Seistan and Afghanistan became transformed into dam ^l-1 si Am where all vestiges of
the earlier culture were wiped out. The same spell has engulfed the areas which were parts of India till
1947 and have since become Pakistan and Bangladesh.

We learn from literary and epigraphic sources, accounts of foreign travellers in medieval times, and modern
archaeological explorations that, on the eve of the Islamic invasion, the cradle of Hindu culture was
honeycombed with temples and monasteries, in many shapes and sizes. The same sources inform us that
many more temples and monasteries continued to come up in places where the Islamic invasion had yet to
reach or from where it was forced to retire for some time by the rallying of Hindu resistance. Hindus were
great temple builders because their pantheon was prolific in Gods and Goddesses and their society rich in
schools and sects, each with its own way of worship. But by the time we come to the end of the invasion,
we find that almost all these Hindu places of worship had either disappeared or were left in different stages
of ruination. Most of the sacred sites had come to be occupied by a variety of Muslim monuments-masjids
and idgahs (mosques), dargahs and ziarats (shrines), mazars and maqbaras (tombs), madrasas and maktabs
(seminaries), takiyas and qabristans (graveyards). Quite a few of the new edifices had been built from the
materials of those that had been deliberately demolished in order to satisfy the demands of Islamic
Theology. The same materials had been used frequently in some secular structures as well-walls and gates
of forts and cities, river and tank embankments, caravanserais and stepwells, palaces and pavilions.

Some apologists of Islam have tried to lay the blame at the door of the White Huns or Epthalites who had
overrun parts of the Hindu cradle in the second half of the fifth century A.D. But they count without the
witness of Hiuen Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim and Buddhist savant, who travelled all over this area
from 630 A.D. to 644. Starting from Karashahr in Northern Sinkiang, he passed through Transoxiana,
Northern Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh,
North-Eastern Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Nepal, Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Mahakosal and Andhra
Pradesh till he reached Tamil Nadu. On his return journey he travelled through Karnataka, Maharashtra,
Gujarat, Madhya Bharat, Sindh, Southern Afghanistan and Southern Sinkiang. In most of these provinces
he found in a flourishing state many Buddhist establishments consisting

of viharas (monasterie s) ,c/z aityas (temples) and stupas (topes), besides what he described as heretical (Jain)
and deva (Brahmanical) temples. The wealth of architecture and sculptures he saw everywhere confirms
what we learn from Hindu literary sources. Some of this wealth has been recovered in recent times from
under mounds of ruins.

During the course of his pilgrimage, Hiuen Tsang stayed at as many as 95 Buddhist centres among which
the more famous ones were at Kuchi, Aqsu, Tirmiz, Uch Turfan, Kashagar and Khotan in Sinkiang; Balkh,
Ghazni, Bamiyan, Kapisi, Lamghan, Nagarahar and Bannu in Afghanistan; Pushkalavati, Bolar and
Takshasila in the North-West Frontier Province; Srinagar, Rajaori and Punch in Kashmir; Sialkot,

Jalandhar and Sirhind in the Punjab; Thanesar, Pehowa and Sugh in Haryana; Bairat and Bhinmal in
Rajasthan, Mathura, Mahoba, Ahichchhatra, Sankisa, Kanauj, Ayodhya, Prayag, Kausambi, Sravasti,
Kapilvastu, Kusinagar, Varanasi, Sarnath and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh; Vaishali, Pataliputra, Rajgir,
Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Monghyr and Bhagalpur in Bihar; Pundravardhana, Tamralipti, Jessore and
Karnasuvarna in Bengal; Puri and Jajnagar in Orissa; Nagarjunikonda and Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh;
Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu; Badami and Kalyani in Karnataka; Paithan and Devagiri in Maharashtra;
Bharuch, Junagarh and Valabhi in Gujarat; Ujjain in Malwa; Mirpur Khas and Multan in Sindh. The
number of Buddhist monasteries at the bigger ones of these centres ranged from 50 to 500 and the number
of monks in residence from 1,000 to 10,000. It was only in some parts of Eastern Afghanistan and the
North-West Frontier Province that monasteries were in a bad shape, which can perhaps be explained by the
invasion of White Huns. But so were they in Kusinagar and Kapilavastu where the White Huns are not
known to have reached. On the other hand, the same invaders had ranged over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh and most of Uttar Pradesh where Hiuen Tsang found the monasteries in a splendid state.
They had even established their rule over Kashmir where Hiuen Tsang saw 500 monasteries housing 5,000
monks. It is, therefore, difficult to hold them responsible for the disappearance of Buddhist centres in areas
where Hiuen Tsang had found them flourishing. An explanation has to be found elsewhere. In any case, the
upheaval they caused was over by the middle of the sixth century. Moreover, the temples and monasteries
which Hiuen Tsang saw were only a few out of many. He had not gone into the interior of any province,
having confined himself to the more famous Buddhist centres.

What was it that really happened to thousands upon thousands of temples and monasteries? Why did they
disappear and/or give place to another type of monuments? How come that their architectural and
sculptural fragments got built into the foundations and floors and walls and domes of the edifices which
replaced them? These are crucial questions which should have been asked by students of medieval Indian
history. But no historian worth his name has raised these questions squarely, not to speak of finding
adequate answers to them. No systematic study of the subject has been made so far. All that we have are
stray references to the demolition of a few Hindu temples, made by the more daring Hindu historians while
discussing the religious policy of this or that sultan. Sir Jadunath Sarkar and Professor Sri Ram
Sharma- have given more attention to the Islamic policy of demolishing Hindu temples and pointed an
accusing finger at the theological tenets which dictated that policy. But their treatment of the subject is
brief and their enumeration of temples destroyed by Aurangzeb and the other Mughal emperors touches
only the fringe of a vast holocaust caused by the Theology of Islam, all over the cradle of Hindu culture,
and throughout more than thirteen hundred years, taking into account what happened in the native Muslim
states carved out after the British take-over and the formation of Pakistan after partition in 1947.

Muslim historians, in India and abroad, have written hundreds of accounts in which the progress of Islamic
armies across the cradle of Hindu culture is narrated, stage by stage and period by period. A pronounced
feature of these Muslim histories is a description-in smaller or greater detail but always with considerable
pride-of how the Hindus were slaughtered en masse or converted by force, how hundreds of thousands of
Hindu men and women and children were captured as booty and sold into slavery, how Hindu temples and
monasteries were razed to the ground or burnt down, and how images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses were
destroyed or desecrated. Commandments of Allah (Quran) and precedents set by the Prophet ( Sunnali ) are
frequently cited by the authors in support of what the swordsmen and demolition squads of Islam did with
extraordinary zeal, not only in the midst of war but also, and more thoroughly, after Islamic rule had been
firmly established. A reference to the Theology of Islam as perfected by the orthodox Imams, leaves little
doubt that the citations are seldom without foundation.

The men and women and children who were killed or captured or converted by force cannot be recalled for
standing witnesses to what was done to them by the heroes of Islam. The apologists for Islam-the most
dogged among them are some Hindu historians and politicians-have easily got away with the plea that

Muslim ^court scribes^ had succumbed to poetic exaggeration in order to please their pious patrons.
Their case is weakened when they cite the same sources in support of their owns speculation or when the
question is asked as to why the patrons needed stories of bloodshed and wanton destruction for feeding
their piety. But they have taken in their stride these doubts and questions as well.

There are, however, witnesses who are not beyond recall and who can confirm that the ^court scribes^
were not at all foisting fables on their readers. These are the hundreds of thousands of sculptural and
architectural fragments which stand arrayed in museums and drawing rooms all over the world, or which
are waiting to be picked up by public and private collectors, or which stare at us from numerous Muslim
monuments. These are the thousands of Hindu temples and monasteries which either stand on the surface in

a state of ruination or lie buried under the earth waiting for being brought to light by the archaeologists
spade. These are the thousands of Muslim edifices, sacred as well as secular, which occupy the sites of
Hindu temples and monasteries and/or which have been constructed from materials of those monuments.
All these witnesses carry unimpeachable evidence of the violence that was done to them, deliberately and
by human hands.

So far no one has cared to make these witnesses speak and relate the story of how they got ruined,
demolished, dislocated, dismembered, defaced, mutilated and burnt. Recent writers on Hindu architecture
and sculpture-their tribe is multiplying fast, mostly for commercial reasons-ignore the ghastly wounds
which these witnesses show on the very first sight, and dwell on the beauties of the limbs that have
survived or escaped injury. Many a time they have to resort to their imagination for supplying what should
have been there but is missing. All they seem to care for is building their own reputations as historians of
Hindu art. If one draws their attention to the mutilations and disfigurements suffered by the subjects under
study, one is met with a stunned silence or denounced downright as a Hindu chauvinist out to raise

^►demons from the past^ 'with the deliberate intention of causing ^communal strife.^

We, therefore, propose to present a few of these witnesses in order to show in what shape they are and what
they have to say.

Tordi (Rajasthan)

^ At Tordi there are two fine and massively built stone baolis or step wells known as the Chaur and Khari
Baoris. They appear to be old Hindu structures repaired or rebuilt by Muhammadans, probably in the early
or middle part of the 15th century^ In the construction of the (Khari) Baori Hindu images have been built
in, noticeable amongst them being an image of Kuber on the right flanking wall of the large flight of
steps

Naraina (Rajasthan)

At Naraina^ is an old pillared mosque, nine bays long and four bays deep, constructed out of old Hindu
temples and standing on the east of the Gauri Shankar tank^ The mosque appears to have been built when

Mujahid Khan, son of Shams Khan, took possession of Naraina in 840 A.H. or 1436 A.D^> To the
immediate north of the mosque is the three-arched gateway called Tripolia which is also constructed with
materials from old Hindu temples ^^

Chatsu (Rajasthan)

d At Chatsu there is a Muhammadan tomb erected on the eastern embankment of the Golerava tank. The

tomb which is known as Gurg Ali Shahds chhatri is built out of the spoils of Hindu buildingsd On the
inside of the twelve-sided frieze of the chhatri is a long Persian inscription in verse, but worn out in several
places. The inscription does not mention the name of any important personage known to history and all that
can be made out with certainty is that the saint Gurg Ali (wolf of Ali) died a martyr on the first of Ramzan

in 979 A.H. corresponding to Thursday, the 17th January, 1572 A.D. d
SaheTh-MaheTh (Uttar Pradesh)

dThe ruined Jain temple situated in the western portion of MaheThd derives the name dSobhnathd
from Sambhavanatha, the third TirthaMkara, who is believed to have been born at dravastid

dLet us now turn our attention to the western-most part of Sobhnath ruins. It is crowned by a domed
edifice, apparently a Muslim tomb of the Pathan period d

dThese remains are raised on a platform, 30 d square, built mostly of broken bricks

including carved onesd This platform, no doubt, represents the plinth of the last Jain temple which was

destroyed by the Muhammadan conquerors d It will be seen from the plan that the enclosure of the tomb
overlaps this square platform. The tomb proper stands on a mass of debris which is probably the remains of
the ruined shrined 11

d3. Sculptured of buff standstone, partly destroyed, representing a TirthaMkara seated cross-legged in
the attitude of meditation on a throne supported by two lions couchant, placed on both sides of a wheel'd

d4. Sculptured of buff sandstone, partly defaced, representing a TirthaMkara seated cross-legged (as
above) d

d8. Sculptured of buff sandstone, defaced, representing a TirthaMkara standing between two miniature
figures of which that to his right is seated.

d9. Sculptured of buff standstone, defaced, representing a TirthaMkara, standing under a parasold

dl2. Sculptured of buff standstone, much defaced, representing a male and a female figure seated side
by side under a palm tree.

dl3. Sculptured of buff standstone, broken in four pieces, and carved with five figurines of
TirthaMkaras d seated cross-legged in the attitude of meditation. The central figure has a Naga hood. The
sculpture evidently was the top portion of a large image slab, d 1

Coming to the ruins of a Buddhist monastery in the same complex, the archaeologist proceeds:

❖in the 23rd cell, which I identify with the store-room, I found half-buried in the floor a big earthen jar^
This must have been used for storage of corn^

❖This cell is connected with a find which is certainly the most notable discovery of the season. I refer to
an inscribed copper-plate of Govindachandra of Kanauj ❖ The charter was issued from Varanasi on
Monday, the full moon day of AshaDha Sam. 1186, which❖ corresponds to the 23rd of lune, 1130. The
inscription records the grant of six villages to the ❖Community of Buddhist friars of whom

Buddhabhattaraka is the chief and foremost, residing in the great convent of the holy Jetavana,^ and is of
a paramount importance, in as much as it conclusively settles the identification of MaheTh with the city of
❖ravasti^^

He describes as follows some of the sculptures unearthed at SrAvastI:

❖ S.l. Statuette in grey stoned of Buddha seated cross-legged in the teaching attitude on a conventional
lotus. The head, breast and fore-anns as well as the sides of the sculpture are broken.

❖ S.2. Lower portion ❖ of a blue schist image of Avalokitc^ vara in the sportive attitude ( lildsana ) on a
lotus seat.

❖ S. 3. Imaged of Avalokite^vara seated in ardhaparyanka attitude on a conventional lotus❖ The head
and left arms of the main figure are missing. ❖—

Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh)

The report of excavations undertaken in 1904-05 says that ❖the inscriptions found there extending to the
twelfth century A.D. show that the connection of Sarnath with Buddhism was still remembered at that
date.^ It continues that ❖the condition of the excavated ruins leaves little doubt that a violent catastrophe

accompanied by willful destruction and plunder overtook the place. ❖-"' Read this report with the Muslim
account that Muhammad Ghuti destroyed a thousand idol-temples when he reached Varanasi after
defeating Maharaja Jayachandra of Kanauj in 1193 A.D. The fragments that are listed below speak for
themselves. The number given in each case is the one adopted in the report of the excavation.

a 42. Upper part of sculptured slab^

E.8. Architectural fragment, with Buddha (?) seated cross-legged on lotus^
a.22. Defaced standing Buddha, hands missing,
a. 17. Buddha head with halo,
a. 8. Head and right arm of image.

E.22. Upper part of image.

E.14. Broken seated figure holding object in left hand.

a. 11. Fragment of larger sculpture; bust, part of head, and right overarm of female chauri-bearer.

E.25. Upper part of female figure with big ear-ring.

E.6. Fragment of sculpture, from top of throne (?) on left side.

n.19. Seated figure of Buddha in bhumispar &amudra, much defaced.

n.221. Torso, with arms of Buddha in dharmachakramudra.

n.91. Lower part of Buddha seated cross-legged on throne. Defaced.

n.142. Figure of Avalokite^vara in relief. Legs from knees downwards wanting.

n.l. Relief partly, defaced and upper part missing. Buddha descending from the TrayastriM^a Heaven
Head and left hand missing.

i.50. Lower half of statue. Buddha in bhumispar &amudra seated on lotus,
i. 17. Buddha in attitude of meditation on lotus. Head missing.
i.46. Head of Buddha with short curls.

i.44. Head of Avalokite^vara, with Amitabha Buddha in headdress.
n.10. Fragment of three-headed figure (? Marichi) of green stone.

i.49. Standing figure of attendant from upper right of image. Half of face, feet and left hand missing,
i.l. Torso of male figure, ornamented.

i.4. Female figure, with lavishly ornamented head. The legs from knees, right arm and left forearm are
missing. Much defaced.

i.l05. Hand holding Lotus.

n.172. Torso of Buddha.

n.18. Head of Buddha, slightly defaced.

n.16. Female figure, feet missing.

n.97. Lower part of female figure. Feet missing.

n.163. Buddha, seated. Much defaced.

K.4. Fragment of seated Buddha in blue Gaya stone.

K.5. Fragment of large statue, showing small Buddha seated in bhumispar &amudra
K. 18. Fragment of statue in best Gupta style.

J.S.18. 27 and 28. Three Buddha heads of Gupta style.

J.S.7. Figure of Kubera in niche, with halo behind head. Partly defaced.

r.67. Upper part of male figure, lavishly adorned.

r.72. a and b. Pieces of pedestal with three Buddhas in dhyanamudra.

r.28. Part of arm, adorned with armlet and inscription in characters of 10th century, containing Buddhist
creed.

B.22. Fragment of Bodhi scene (?); two women standing on conventional rock. Head and right arm of left
hand figure broken.

B.33. Defaced sitting Buddha in dhyanamudra.

B.75. Lower part of Buddha in bhumispar &amudra seated cross-legged on lotus.

B.40. Feet of Buddha sitting cross-legged on lotus on throne.

B.38. Headless defaced Buddha seated cross-legged on lotus in dharmachakramudra.

Y.24. Headless Buddha stated cross-legged on throne in dharmachakramudra.

B.52. Bust of Buddha in dharmachakramudra. Head missing.

B.16. Standing Buddha in varadamudra\ hands and feet broken.

Y.34. Upper part of Buddha in varadamudra.

B.24. Bust of standing Buddha in abhayamudra', left hand and head missing.

B.31. Defaced standing Buddha in abhayamudra. Head and feet missing.

B.48. Feet of standing Buddha with red paint.

B. 15. Lower part of AvalokiteSvara seated on lotus in Itlasana.

Y.23. Bust of figure seated in Itlasana with trace of halo.

B.59. Legs of figure sitting cross-legged on lotus.

B.7. Female bust with ornaments and high headdress. Left arm and right forearm missing.—

Vaishali (Bihar)

❖in the southern section of the city the fort of Raja Bisal is by far the most important ruind South-west of
it stands an old brick Stupa, now converted into a Dargahd The name of the saint who is supposed to have
been buried there was given to me as Miran-Jidd

Gaur and Pandua (Bengal)

❖in order to erect mosques and tombs the Muhammadans pulled down all Hindu temples they could lay
their hands upon for the sake of the building materials ❖

❖The oldest and the best known building at Gaur and Pandua is the Adina Masjid at Pandua built by
Sikandar Shah, the son of Ilyas Shah. The date of its inscription may be read as either 776 or 770, which
corresponds with 1374 or 1369 A.Dd The materials employed consisted largely of the spoils of Hindu
temples and many of the carvings from the temples have been used as facings of doors, arches and
pillarsdd 12

Devikot (Bengal)

❖The ancient city of Kotivarsha, which was the seat of a district ( vishaya ) under Pundra-vardhana
province (bhukti) at the time of the Guptas ❖ is now represented by extensive mounds of Bangarh or Ban

Rajar Garh ❖ The older site was in continuous occupation till the invasion of the Muhammadans in the
thirteenth century to whom it was known as Devkot or Devikot. It possesses Muhammadan records ranging
from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century ❖—

❖The Rajbari mound at the South-east corner is one of the highest mounds at Bangarh and. must contain
some important remains. The Dargah of Sultan Pir is a Muhammadan shrine built on the site of an old
Hindu temple of which four granite pillars ❖ are still standing in the centre of the enclosure, the doorjambs
having been used in the construction of the gateway.

❖The Dargah of Shah Ata on the north bank of the Dhal-dighi tank is another building built on the ruins of

an older Hindu or Buddhist structured The female figure on the lintels of the doorway now, fixed in the
east wall of the Dargah appears to be Tara, from which it would appear that the temple destroyed was
Buddhistdd-

Tribeni (Bengal)

❖The principal object of interest at Tribeni is the Dargah of Zafar Khan Ghazi. The chronology of this
ruler may be deduced from the two inscriptions of which one has been fitted into the plinth of his tomb,
while the other is inside the small mosque to the west of the tomb. Both refer to him and the first tells us
that he built the mosque close to the Dargah, which dates from A.D. 1298; while the second records the
erection by him of a Madrasah or college in the time of Shamsuddin Firoz Shah and bears a date
corresponding to the 28th April, 1313 A.D. It was he who conquered the Hindu Raja of Panduah, and

introduced Islam into this part of Lower Bengali The tomb is built out of the spoils taken from Hindu
temples ^

^>The eastern portion of the tomb was formerly a maNDapa of an earlier Krishna temple which stood on
the same spot and sculptures on the inner walls represent scenes from the RamayaNa and the Malidbharcita,
with descriptive titles inscribed in proto-Bengali characters^ The other frieze^ shows Vishnu with
Lakshmi and Sarasvati in the centre, with two attendents, and five avatdras of VishNu on both
flanks^ Further clearance work has been executed during the year 1932-33 and among the sculptures
discovered in that year are twelve figures of the Sun God, again in the 12th century style and evidently
reused by the masons when the Hindu temple was converted into a Muslim structured

Mandu (Madhya Pradesh)

dMaNDu became the capital of the Muhammadan Sultans of Malva who set about buildings themselves
palaces and mosques, first with material pilfered from Hindu temples (already for the most part desecrated
and ruined by the iconoclastic fury of their earlier co-religionists), and afterwards with their own quarried
material. Thus nearly all the traces of the splendid shrines of the ParamAras of MAlvA have disappeared

save what we find utilized in the ruined mosques and tombs d "

dThe date of the construction of the Hindola Mahall cannot be fixed with exactituded There can,
however, be no doubt that it is one of the earliest of the Muhammadan buildings in MaNDu. From its
outward appearance there is no sign of Hindu workmanship but the repairs, that have been going on for the
past one year, have brought to light a very large number of stones used in the structure, which appear, to
have been taken from some pre-existing Hindu temple. The facing stones, which have been most accurately
and smoothly cut on their outer surfaces, bear in very many cases on their inner sides the under faced
images of Hindu gods, or patterns of purely Hindu design, while pieces of Hindu carving and broken parts

of images are found indiscriminately mixed with the rubble, of which the core of the walls is made.d

Dhar (Madhya Pradesh)

ddThe mosque itself appears from local tradition and from the numerous indications and inscriptions
found within it to have been built on the site of, and to a large extent out of materials taken from, a Hindu
Temple, known to the inhabitants as Raja Bhojads school. The inference was derived sometime back from
the existence of a Sanskrit alphabet and some Sanskrit grammatical forms inscribed in serpentine diagrams
on two of the pillar bases in the large prayer chamber and from certain Sanskrit inscriptions on the black
stone slabs imbedded in the floor of the prayer chamber, and on the reverse face of the side walls of the
mihrab.-

dThe Lat Masjid built in A.D. 1405, by Dilawar Khan, the founder of the Muhammadan kingdom of

Malvad is of considerable interest not only on account of the Iron Lat which lies outside itd but also
because it is a good specimen of the use made by the Muhammadan conquerors of the materials of the
Hindu temples which they destroyedd d ;

Vijayanagar (Karnataka)

^►During the construction of the new road-some mounds which evidently marked the remains of destroyed
buildings, were dug into, and in one of them were disclosed the foundations of a rectangular building with
elaborately carved base. Among the debris were lumps of charcoal and calcined iron, probably the remains
of the materials used by the Muhammadans in the destruction of the building. The stones bear extensive
signs of having been exposed to the action of fire. That the chief buildings were destroyed by fire, historical
evidence shows, and many buildings, notably the ViThalaswAmin temple, still bear signs, in their cracked

and fractured stone work, of the catastrophe which overtook them^ —

^The most important temple at Vijayanagar from an architectural point of view, is the ViThalaswamin
temple. It stands in the eastern limits of the ruins, near the bank of the TuNgabhadra river, and shows in its
later structures the extreme limit in floral magnificence to which the Dravidian style advanced^ This
building had evidently attracted the special attention of the Muhammadan invaders in their efforts to
destroy the buildings of the city, of which this was no doubt one of the most important, for though many of
the other temples show traces of the action of fire, in none of them are the effects so marked as in this. Its
massive construction, however, resisted all the efforts that were made to bring it down and the only visible
results of their iconoclastic fury are the cracked beams and pillars, some of the later being so flaked as to
make one marvel that they are yet able to bear the immense weight of the stone entablature and roof

above ^

Bijapur (Karnataka)

^No ancient Hindu or Jain buildings have survived at Bijapur and the only evidence of their former
existence is supplied by two or three mosques, viz.. Mosque No. 294, situated in the compound of the
Collectors bungalow, Krimud-d-din Mosque and a third and smaller mosque on the way to the Mangoli
Gate, which are all adaptations or re-erections of materials obtained from temples. These mosques are the
earliest Muhammadan structures and one of them, i.e., the one constructed by Karimud-d-din, must
according to a Persian and Nagari inscription engraved upon its pillars, have been erected in the year 1402

Saka=A.D. 1324, soon after Malik Kafur^s conquest of the. Deccanr

Badanii (Karnataka)

^Three stone lintels bearing bas-reliefs were discovered in, course of the clearance at the second gateway

of the Hill Fort to the north of the Bhutnath tank at Bad ami ^ These originally belonged to a temple which
is now in ruins and were re-used at a later period in the construction of the plinth of guardroom on the fort.

^The bas-reliefs represent scenes from the early life of KRISHNA and may be compared with similar
ones in the BAD AMI CAVES

The Pattern of Destruction

The Theology of Islam divides human history into two periods-the Jahiliyya or the age of ignorance which
preceded Allah^s first revelation to Prophet Muhammad, and the age of enlightenment which succeeded

that event. It follows that every human creation which existed in the ^age of ignorance^ has to be
converted to its Islamic version or destroyed. The logic applies to pre-Islamic buildings as much as to pre-
Islamic ways of worship, mores and manners, dress and decor, personal and place names. This is too large
a subject to be dealt with at present. What concerns us here is the fate of temples and monasteries that
existed on the eve of the Islamic invasion and that came up in the course of its advance.

What happened to many ^abodes of the infidels^ is best described by a historian of Vijayanagar in the

wake of Islamic victory in 1565 A.D. at the battle of Talikota. ^The third day,^> he writes, ^>saw the
beginning of the end. The victorious Mussulmans had halted on the field of battle for rest and refreshment,
but now they had reached the capital, and from that time forward for a space of five months Vijayanagar
knew no rest. The enemy had come to destroy, and they carried out their object relentlessly. They
slaughtered the people without mercy; broke down the temples and palaces, and wreaked such savage
vengeance on the abode of the kings, that, with the exception of a few great stone-built temples and walls,
nothing now remains but a heap of ruins to mark the spot where once stately buildings stood. They
demolished the statues and even succeeded in breaking the limbs of the huge Narsimha monolith. Nothing
seemed to escape them. They broke up the pavilions standing on the huge platform from which the kings
used to watch festivals, and overthrew all the carved work. They lit huge fires in the magnificently
decorated buildings forming the temple of Vitthalswamin near the river, and smashed its exquisite stone
sculptures. With fire and sword, with crowbars and axes, they carried on day after day their work of
destruction. Never perhaps in the history of the world has such havoc been wrought, and wrought so
suddenly, on so splendid a city: teeming with a wealthy and industrious population in the full plenitude of
prosperity one day, and on the next seized, pillaged, and reduced to ruins, amid scenes of savage massacre

and horrors beggaring description^—

The Muslim victors did not get time to raise their own structures from the ruins of Vijayanagar, partly
because the Hindu Raja succeeded in regrouping his forces and re-occupying his capital and partly because
they did not have the requisite Muslim population to settle in that large city; another invader, the
Portuguese, had taken control of the Arabian Sea and blocked the flow of fresh recruits from Muslim
countries in the Middle East. What would have happened otherwise is described by Alexander Cunningham

in his report on Mahoba. ^ As Mahoba was,^ he writes, ^for some time the headquarters of the early
Muhammadan Governors, we could hardly expect to find that any Hindu buildings had escaped their
furious bigotry, or their equally destructive cupidity. When the destruction of a Hindu temple furnished the
destroyer with the ready means of building a house for himself on earth, as well as in heaven, it is perhaps
wonderful that so many temples should still be standing in different parts of the country. It must be
admitted, however, that, in none of the cities which the early Muhammadans occupied permanently, have
they left a single temple standing, save this solitary temple at Mahoba, which doubtless owed its
preservation solely to its secure position amid the deep waters of the Madan-Sagar. In Delhi, and Mathura,
in Banaras and Jonpur, in Narwar and Ajmer, every single temple was destroyed by their bigotry, but
thanks to their cupidity, most of the beautiful Hindu pillars were preserved, and many of them, perhaps, on
their original positions, to form new colonnades for the masjids and tombs of the conquerors. In Mahoba
all the other temples were utterly destroyed and the only Hindu building now standing is part of the palace
of Parmal, or Paramarddi Deva, on the hill-fort, which has been converted into a masjid. In 1843,1 found
an inscription of Paramarddi Deva built upside down in the wall of the fort just outside this masjid. It is
dated in S. 1240, or A.D. 1183, only one year before the capture of Mahoba by Prithvi-Raj Chohan of
Delhi. In the Dargah of Pir Mubarak Shah, and the adjacent Musalman burial-ground, I counted 310 Hindu
pillars of granite. I found a black stone bull lying beside the road, and the arglia of a lingam fixed as a
water-spout in the terrace of the Dargah. These last must have belonged to a temple of Siva, which was
probably built in the reign of Kirtti Varmma, between 1065 and 1085 A.D., as I discovered an inscription

of that prince built into the wall of one of the tombs. ^ 1

Many other ancient cities and towns suffered the same tragic transformation. Bukhara, Samarkand, Balkh,
Kabul, Ghazni, Srinagar, Peshawar, Lahore, Multan, Patan, Ajmer, Delhi, Agra Dhar, Mandu, Budaun,
Kanauj, Biharsharif, Patna, Lakhnauti, Ellichpur, Daulatabad, Gulbarga, Bidar, Bijapur, Golconda-to
mention only a few of the more famous Hindu capitals-lost their native character and became nests of a
closed creed waging incessant war on a catholic culture. Some of these places lost even their ancient names
which had great and glorious associations. It is on record that the Islamic invaders coined and imposed this
or that quranic concoction on every place they conquered. Unfortunately for them, most of these
impositions failed to stick, going the way they came. But quite a few succeeded and have endured till our

own times. Reviving the ancient names wherever they have got eclipsed is one of the debts which Hindu
society owes to its illustrious ancestors.

On the other hand, a large number of cities, towns and centres of Hindu civilization disappeared from the
scene and their ruins have been identified only in recent times, as in the case of Kapi^i, Lampaka,
Nagarahara, Pushkalavati, UdbhaNDapura, Taksh^Hla, Alor, Brahmanabad, Debal, Nandana, Agroha

Viratanagara, Ahichchhatra, ^ravasti, Sarnath, Vai^ali, Vikram^ila, Nalanda, KarNasuvarNa,
PuNDravardhana, Somapura, Jajanagar, DhanyakaTaka, Vijayapuri, Vijayanagara, Dvarasamudra. What
has been found on top of the ruins in most cases is a mosque or a dargah or a tomb or some other Muslim

monument, testifying to Allah4>s triumph over Hindu Gods. Many more mounds are still to be explored
and identified. A survey of archaeological sites in the Frontier Circle alone and as far back as 1920, listed
255 dheris— or mounds which, as preliminary explorations indicated, hid ruins of ancient dwellings and/or
places of worship. Some dheris, which had been excavated and were not included in this count, showed
every sign of deliberate destruction. By that time, many more mounds of a similar character had been
located in other parts of the cradle of Hindu culture. A very large number has been added to the total count
in subsequent years. Whichever of them is excavated tells the same story, most of the time. It is a different
matter that since the dawn of independence, Indian archaeologists functioning under the spell or from fear
of Secularism, record or report only the ethnographical stratifications and cultural sequences.—

Muslim historians credit all their heroes with many expeditions each of which ^laid wasted this or that
province or region or city or countryside. The foremost heroes of the imperial line at Delhi and Agra such
as Qutbu^d-Din Aibak (1192-1210 A.D.), Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (1210-36 A.D.), Ghiyasu^d-Din

B alb an (1246-66 A D.), Alau^d-Din Khalji (1296-1316 A.D.), Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325-51 A.D.),
Firuz Shah Tughlaq (135188 A.D.) Sikandar Lodi (1489-1519 A.D.), Babar (1519-26 A.D.) and Aurangzeb
(1658-1707 A.D.) have been specially hailed for Shunting the peasantry like wild beasts^, or for seeing
to it that ^no lamp is lighted for hundreds of miles or for ^destroying the dens of idolatry and God-

pluralism^ wherever their writ ran. The sultans of the provincial Muslim dynasties-Malwa, Gujarat, Sindh,
Deccan, Jaunpur, Bengal-were not far behind, if not ahead, of what the imperial pioneers had done or were
doing; quite often their performance put the imperial pioneers to shame. No study has yet been made of
how much the human population declined due to repeated genocides committed by the swordsmen of
Islam. But the count of cities and towns and villages which simply disappeared during the Muslim rule
leaves little doubt that the loss of life suffered by the cradle of Hindu culture was colossal.

Putting together all available evidence-literary and archaeological-from Hindu, Muslim and other sources,
and following the trail of Islamic invasion, we get the pattern of how the invaders proceeded vis-a-vis
Hindu places of worship after occupying a city or town and its suburbs. It should be kept in mind in this
context that Muslim rule never became more than a chain of garrison cities and towns, not even in its
heyday from Akbar to Aurangzeb, except in areas where wholesale or substantial conversions had taken
place. Elsewhere the invaders were rarely in full control of the countryside; they had to mount repeated
expeditions for destroying places of worship, collecting booty including male and female slaves, and for
terrorising the peasantry, through slaughter and rapine, so that the latter may become a submissive source
of revenue. The peasantry took no time to rise in revolt whenever and wherever Muslim power weakened
or its terror had to be relaxed for reasons beyond its control.

1. Places taken by assault: If a place was taken by assault-which was mostly the case because it was
seldom that the Hindus surrendered-it was thoroughly sacked, its surviving population slaughtered or
enslaved and all its buildings pulled down. In the next phase, the conquerors raised their own edifices for
which slave labour was employed on a large scale in order to produce quick results. Cows and, many a
time, Brahmanas were killed and their blood sprinkled on the sacred sites in order to render them unclean
for the Hindus for all time to come. The places of worship which the Muslims built for themselves fell into

several categories. The pride of place went to the Jami^ Masjid which was invariably built on the site and
with the materials of the most prominent Hindu temple; if the materials of that temple were found
insufficient for the purpose, they could be supplemented with materials of other temples which had been
demolished simultaneously. Some other mosques were built in a similar manner according to need or the
fancy of those who mattered. Temple sites and materials were also used for building the tombs of those
eminent Muslims who had fallen in the fight; they were honoured as martyrs and their tombs became
mazars and rauzas in course of time. As we have already pointed out, Hindus being great temple builders,
temple materials could be spared for secular structures also, at least in the bigger settlements. It can thus be

inferred that all masjids and mazars, particularly the Jami^ Masjids which date from the first Muslim
occupation of a place, stand on the site of Hindu temples; the structures we see at present may not carry
evidence of temple materials used because of subsequent restorations or attempts to erase the evidence.

There are very few Jami^> Masjids in the country which do not stand on temple sites.

2. Places surrendered: Once in a while a place was surrendered by the Hindus in terms of an agreement
that they would be treated as zimmis and their lives as well as places of worship spared. In such cases, it

took some time to eradicate the ^emblems of infidelity.^ Theologians of Islam were always in
disagreement whether Hindus could pass muster as zimmis; they were not People of the Book. It depended
upon prevailing power equations for the final decision to go in their favour or against them. Most of the
time, Hindus lost the case in which they were never allowed to have any say. What followed was what had
happened in places taken by assault, at least in respect of the Hindu places of worship. Th ezimmi status
accorded to the Hindus seldom went beyond exaction of jizyaand imposition of disabilities prescribed by
Umar, the second rightly-guided Caliph (634-44 A.D.).

3. Places reoccupied by Hindus: It also happened quite frequently, particularly in the early phase of an
Islamic invasion, that Hindus retook a place which had been under Muslim occupation for some time. In
that case, they rebuilt their temples on new sites. Muslim historians are on record that Hindus spared the
mosques and mazars which the invaders had raised in the interregnum. When the Muslims came back,
which they did in most cases, they re-enacted the standard scene vis-a-vis Hindu places of worship.

4. Places in the countryside: The invaders started sending out expeditions into the countryside as soon as
their stranglehold on major cities and towns in a region had been secured. Hindu places of worship were
always the first targets of these expeditions. It is a different matter that sometimes the local Hindus raised
their temples again after an expedition had been forced to retreat. For more expeditions came and in due
course Hindu places of worship tended to disappear from the countryside as well. At the same time, masjids
and mazars sprang up everywhere, on the sites of demolished temples.

5. Missionaries of Islam: Expeditions into the countryside were accompanied or followed by the
missionaries of Islam who flaunted pretentious names and functioned in many guises. It is on record that
the missionaries took active part in attacking the temples. They loved to live on the sites of demolished
temples and often used temple materials for building their own dwellings, which also went under various
high-sounding names. There were instances when they got killed in the battle or after they settled down in a
place which they had helped in pillaging. In all such cases, they were pronounced shahids (martyrs) and
suitable monuments were raised in their memory as soon as it was possible. Thus a large number

of gumbads (domes) and ganjs (plains) commemorating the martyrs arose all over the cradle of Hindu
culture and myths about them grew apace. In India, we have a large literature on the subject in which

Sayyid Salar Mas^ud, who got killed at Bahraich while attacking the local Sun Temple, takes pride of
place. His mazAr now stands on the site of the same temple which was demolished in a subsequent
invasion. Those Muslim saints who survived and settled down have also left a large number of masjids and
dargAhs in the countryside. Almost all of them stand on temple sites.

6. The role of sufis: The saints of Islam who became martyrs or settled down were of several types which
can be noted by a survey of their zidrats and mazars that we find in abundance in all lands conquered by the

armies of Islam. But in the second half of the twelfth century A.D., we find a new type of Muslim saint
appearing on the scene and dominating it in subsequent centuries. That was the sufi joined to a silsila. This
is not the place to discuss the character of some outstanding sufis like Mansur al-Hallaj, Bayazid Bistami,
Rumi and Attar. Suffice it to say that some of their ancestral spiritual heritage had survived in their
consciousness even though their Islamic environment had tended to poison it a good deal. The common
name which is used for these early sufis as well as for the teeming breed belonging to the latter-day silsilas,
has caused no end of confusion. So far as India is concerned, it is difficult to find a sufi whose
consciousness harboured even a trace of any spirituality. By and large, the sufis that functioned in this
country were the most fanatic and fundamentalist activists of Islamic imperialism, the same as the latter-
day Christian missionaries in the context of Spanish and Portuguese imperialism.

Small wonder that we find them flocking everywhere ahead or with or in the wake of Islamic armies. Sufis
of the Chishtiyya silsila in particular excelled in going ahead of these armies and acting as eyes and ears of
the Islamic establishment. The Hindus in places where these sufis settled, particularly in the South, failed to
understand the true character of these saints till it was too late. The invasions of South India by the armies

of Alau^d-Din Khalji and Muhammad bin Tughlaq can be placed in their proper perspective only when

we survey the sufi network in the South. Many sufis were sent in all directions by Nizamu^d-Din Awliya,
the Chistiyya luminary of Delhi; all of them actively participated in jihadsagainst the local
population. Nizamu^d-Din^s leading disciple, Nasiru^d-Din Chirag-i-Dihli, exhorted the sufis to serve
the Islamic state. ^The essence of sufism,^ he versified, ^>is not an external garment. Gird up your loins

to serve the Sultan and be a sufi. ^ -Nasiru^d-Din^s leading disciple, Syed Muhammad Husaini Banda
Nawaz Gesudaraz (1321-1422 A.D.), went to Gulbarga for helping the contemporary Bahmani sultan in
consolidating Islamic power in the Deccan. Shykh Nizamu^d-Din Awliya^s dargah in Delhi continued to
be and remains till today the most important centre of Islamic fundamentalism in India.

An estimate of what the sufis did wherever and whenever they could, can be formed from the account of a
pilgrimage which a pious Muslim Nawwab undertook in 1823 to the holy places of Islam in the Chingleput,
South Acort, Thanjavur, Tiruchirapalli and North Arcot districts of Tamil Nadu. This region had
experienced renewed Islamic invasion after the breakdown of the Vijayanagar Empire in 1565 A.D. Many
sufis had flocked in for destroying Hindu temples and converting the Hindu population, particularly the
Qadiriyyas who had been fanning out all over South India after establishing their stronghold at Bidar in the
fifteenth century. They did not achieve any notable success in terms of conversions, but the havoc they
wrought with Hindu temples can be inferred from a large number of ruins, loose sculptures scattered all
over the area, inscriptions mentioning many temples which cannot be traced, and the proliferation of
mosques, dargahs, mazars and maqbaras.

The pilgrim visited many places and could not go to some he wanted to cover. All these places were small
except Tiruchirapalli, Arcot and Vellore. His court scribe, who kept an account of the pilgrimage, mentions
many masjids and mazars visited by his patron. Many masjids and mazars could not be visited because they
were in deserted places covered by forest. There were several graveyards, housing many tombs; one of

them was so big that ^thousands, even a hundred thousand^ graves could be there. Other notable places

were takiyas of faqirs, sarais, dargahs, and several houses of holy relics in one of which ^a hair of the

Holy Prophet is enshrined.^ The account does not mention the Hindu population except as ^harsh kafirs

and marauders.^ But stray references reveal that the Muslim population in all these places was sparse. For
instance, Kanchipuram had only 50 Muslim houses but 9 masjids and 1 mazar.

The court scribe pays fulsome homage to the sufis who ^planted firmly the Faith of Islam^ in this region.
The pride of place goes to Hazrat Natthar Wall who took over by force the main temple at Tiruchirapalli
and converted it into his khanqah. Referring to the destruction of the Sivalinga in the temple, he

observes: ^The monster was slain and sent to the house of perdition. His image namely but-
ling worshipped by the unbelievers was cut and the head separated from the body. A portion of the body
went into the ground. Over that spot is the tomb of Wall shedding rediance till this day. 2 Another sufi,
Qayim Shah, who came to the same place at a later stage, ^was the cause of the destruction of twelve
temples.^— At Vellore, Hazrat Nur Muhammad Qadiri, ^>the most unique man regarded as the invaluable
person of his age,^ was the ^cause of the ruin of temples^ which ^Hie laid wasted He chose to be
buried ^in the vicinity of the templet which he had replaced with his khanqah.—

It is, therefore, not an accident that the masjids and khAnqAhs built by or for the sufis who reached a place
in the first phase of Islamic invasion occupy the sites of Hindu temples and, quite often, contain temple
materials in their structures. Lahore, Multan, Uch, Ajmer, Delhi, Badaun, Kanauj, Kalpi, Biharsharif,
Maner, Lakhnauti, Patan, Patna, Burhanpur, Daulatabad, Gulbarga, Bidar, Bijapur, Golconda, Arcot, Vellor
and Tiruchirapalli-to count only a few leading sufi center-shave many dargahs which display evidence of
iconoclasm. Many masjids and dargahs in interior places testify to the same fact, namely, that the sufis
were, above everything else, dedicated soldiers of Allah who tolerates no other deity and no other way of
worship except that which he revealed to Prophet Muhammad.

7. Particularly pious sultans: Lastly, we have to examine very closely the monuments built during the
reigns of the particularly pious sultans who undertook ^>to cleanse the land from the vices of infidelity and
God-pluralism^ that had cropped up earlier, either because Islamic terror had weakened under pressure of

circumstances or because the proceeding ruler (s) had ^wandered away from the path of rectitude.^ Firuz
Shah Tughlaq, Sikandar Lodi and Aurangzeb of the Delhi-Agra imperial line belonged to this category.
They had several prototypes in the provincial Muslim dynasties at Ahmadabad, Mandu, Jaunpur,

Lakhnauti, Gulbarga, Bidar, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda. There is little doubt that all masjids and
mazars erected under the direct or indirect patronage of these sultans, particularly in places where Hindu
population predominates, stand on the sites of Hindu temples.

A Preliminary Survey

We give below, state-wise and district-wise, the particulars of Muslim monuments which stand on the sites
and/or have been built with the materials of Hindu temples, and which we wish to recall as witnesses to the
role of Islam as a religion and the character of Muslim rule in medieval India. The list is the result of a
preliminary survey. Many more Muslim monuments await examination. Local traditions which have so far
been ignored or neglected, have to be tapped on a large scale.

We have tried our best to be exact in respect of locations, names and dates of the monuments mentioned.
Even so, some mistakes and confusions may have remained. It is not unoften that different sources provide
different dates and names for the same monument. Many Muslim saints are known by several names,
which creates confusion in identifying their mazars or dargahs. Some districts have been renamed or newly,
created and a place which was earlier under one district may have been included in another. We shall be
grateful to readers who point out these mistakes so that they can be corrected in our major study. This is
only a brief summary.

ANDHRA PRADESH

I. Adilabad District.

Mahur, Masjid in the Fort on the hill. Temple site.

II. Anantpur District.

1. Gooty, Gateway to the Hill Fort. Temple materials used.

2. Kadiri , Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

3. Konakondla, Masjid in the bazar. Temple materials used.

4. Penukonda

(i) Fort. Temple materials used.

(ii) Masjid in the Fort. Converted Temple.

(iii) Sher Khan^s Masjid (1546).— Converted Temple.

(iv) Dargah of Babayya. Converted I ^ vara Temple.

(v) Jami^> Masjid (1664-65). Temple site.

(xi) Dargah of Shah Fakbru^d-Din (1293-94). Temple site.

5. Tadpatri

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1695-96). Temple site.

(ii) Idgah completed in 1725-26. Temple site.

6. Thummala, Masjid (1674-75). Temple site.

III. Cuddapah District

1. Cuddapah

(i) Bhap Sahib-ki-Masjid (1692). Temple site.

(ii) Idgah (1717-18). Temple site.

(iii) Bahadur Khan-kt-Masjid (1722-23). Temple site.

(iv) Dargah of Shah Aminu^d-Din Gesu Daraz (1736-37). Temple site.

2. Duvvuru, Masjid. Temple site.

3. Gandikot, Jami^> Masjid (1690-91). Temple site.

4. Gangapuru , Masjid. Temple site.

5. Gundlakunta , Dastgiri Dargah. Temple site.

6. Gurrumkonda, Fort and several other Muslim buildings. Temple materials used.

7. Jammalmaduguu, Jami^> Masjid (1794-95). Temple site.

8. Jangalapalle, Dargah of Dastgir Swami. Converted Jangam temple.

9. Siddhavatam

(i) Qutb Shahi Masjid (restored in 1808). Temple materials use.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid (1701). Temple materials used.

(iii) Dargah of Bismillah Khan Qadiri. Temple materials used.

(iv) Fort and Gateways. Temple materials used.

(v) Chowk-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

10. Vutukuru

(i) Masjid at Naligoto. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid at Puttumiyyapeta. Temple site.

IV. East Godavari District.

Bikkavolu, Masjid. Temple materials used.

V. Guntur District.

1. Nizampatnam, Dargah of Shah Haidri (1609). Temple site

2. Vinukonda, Jami^ Masjid (1640-41). Temple site.

VI. Hyderabad District.

1. Chikalgoda, Masjid (1610). Temple site.

2. Dargah, Dargah of Shah Walt (1601-02). Temple site.

3. Golconda

(i) Jami^ Masjid on Bala Hissar. Temple site.

(ii) Taramati Masjid. Temple site.

4. Hyderabad

(i) Dargah of Shah Musa Qadiri. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid on the Pirulkonda Hill (1690). Temple site.

(iii) Toll Masjid (1671). Temple materials used.

(iv) Dargah of Mian Mishk (d. 1680). Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Mu^min Chup in Aliyabad (1322-23). Temple site.

(vi) Haji Kamal-ki-Masjid (1657). Temple site.

(vii) Begum Masjid (1593). Temple site.

(viii) Dargah of Islam Khan Naqshbandi. Temple site.

(ix) Dargah of Shah Da^ud (1369-70). Temple site.

(x) Jami^ Masjid (1597). Temple site.

4. Maisaram, Masjid built by Aurangzeb from materials of 200 temples demolished after the fall of
Golconda.

5. Secunderabad, Qadam RasUl. Temple site.

6. Sheikhpet

(i) Shaikh-ki-Masjid (1633-34). Temple site.

(ii) SaraiwAli Masjid (1678-79). Temple tite.

VII. Karimnagar District.

1. Dharampuri, Masjid (1693). TrikuTa Temple site.

2. Elangdal

(i) Mansur Khan-ki-Masjid (1525). Temple site.

(ii) Alamgiri Masjid (1696). Temple site.

3. Kalesyaram, Alamgiri Masjid. Temple site.

4. Sonipet, Alamgiri Masjid. Temple site.

5. Vemalvada, Mazar of a Muslim saint. Temple site.

VIII. Krishna District.

1. Gudimetta, Masjid in the Fort, Temple materials used.

2. Guduru, Jami^> Masjid (1497). Temple materials used.

3. Gundur, Jami^> Masjid. Converted temple.

4. Kondapalli

(i) Masjid built in 1482 on the site of a temple after Muhammad Shah BahmanI had slaughtered the
Brahmin priests on the advice of Mahmud Gawan, the great Bahmani Prime Minister, who exhorted the
sultan to become a Ghazi by means of this pious performance.

(ii) Mazar of Shah Abdul Razzaq. Temple site.

5. Kondavidu

(i) Masjid (1337). Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Barandaula. Temple materials used.

(iii) Qadam Sharif of Adam. Converted temple.

6. Machhlipatnam

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Idgah. Temple site.

7. Nandigram, Jami4> Masjid. Temple site.

8. Pedanci, Iama^Hl-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

9. Rajkonda, Masjid (1484). Temple site.

10. Tengda, Masjid. Temple site.

11. Turkpalem, Dargah of Ghalib Shahid. Temple site.

12. Vadpaili, Masjid near NarsiMhaswamin Temple. Temple materials used.

13. Vijaywada, Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

IX. Kurnool District.

1. Adoni

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1668-69). Materials of several temples used.

(ii) Masjid on the Hill. Temple materials used.

(iii) Fort (1676-77). Temple materials used.

2. Cumbum

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1649). Temple site.

(ii) Gachinala Masjid (1729-30). Temple site.

3. Hcivli, Jami^> Masjid. Temple materials used.

4. Karimuddula, Dargah. Akkadevi Temple materials used.

5. Kottakot, Mini ^ Masjid (1501). Temple site.

6. Kurnool

(i) Pir Sahib-ka-Gumbad (1637-38). Temple site.

(ii) Mmi^> Masjid (1667). Temple site.

(iii) Lai Masjid (1738-39). Temple site.

7. Pasupala, Kalan Masjid. Temple site.

8. Sanjanmala, Masjid. Temple sites.

9. Siddheswaram, Ashurkhana. Temple materials used.

10. Yadavalli, Mazar and Masjid. Temple sites.

11. Zuhrapur , Dargah of Qadir Shah Bukhari. Temple site.

X. Mahbubnagar District.

1. Alampur, Qala-ki-Masjid. Temple materials used.

2. Jatprole , Dargah of Sayyid Shah Darwish. Temple materials used.

3. Kodangal

(i) Dargah of Hazrat Nizamu^d-DIn. Temple site.

(ii) Jami^> Masjid. Temple site.

4. Kundurg, Jami^ Masjid (1470-71). Temple site.

5. Pargi, Jami^ Masjid (1460). Temple site.

6. Somasila , Dargah of Kamalir^d-Din Baba (1642-43) Temple site.

XI. Medak District.

1. Andol, Old Masjid. Temple site.

2. Komatur, Old Masjid. Temple site.

3. Medak

(i) Masjid near Mubarak Mahal (1641). VishNu Temple site.

(ii) Fort, Temple materials used.

4. Palat, Masjid. Temple site.

5. Patancheru

(i) Jami^> Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Shykh Ibrahim known as Makhdumji (1583). Temple site.

(iii) Ashrufkhana. Temple site.

(iv) Fort (1698). Temple materials used.

XII. Nalgonda District.

1. Devarkonda

(i) Qutb Shahi Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Sharifu^d-Din (1579). Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Qadir Shah Walt (1591). Temple site.

2. Ghazinagar , Masjid (1576-77). Temple site.

3. Nalgonda

(i) Garhi Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Shah Latif. Temple site.

(iii) Qutb Shahi Masjid (Renovated in 1897). Temple site.

4. Pangal , Alamgiri Masjid. Temple site.

XIII. Nellore District.

1. Kandukuru, FourMasjids. Temple sites.

2. Nellore, Dargah named Dargamitta. Akkasali^vara Temple materials used.

3. Podile, Dargah. Temple site.

4. Udayagiri

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1642-43). Temple materials used.

(ii) Chhoti Masjid (1650-51). Temple materials used.

(iii) Fort. Temple materials used.

XIV. Nizambad District.

1. Balkonda

(i) Patthar-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Idgah. Temple site.

2. Bodhan

(i) Deval Masjid. Converted Jain temple.

(ii) Patthar-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Alamgiri Masjid (1654-55). Temple site.

3. Dudki, Ashrufkhana. Temple materials used.

4. Fathullapur, Mu^askari Masjid (1605-06). Temple site.

XV. Osmanabad District.

Ausa, Jami^ Masjid (1680-81). Temple site.

XVI. Rangareddy District.

Maheshwar, Masjid (1687). Madanna Pandit^s Temple site.

XVII. Srikakulam District

1. Icchapuram, Several Masjids. Temple sites.

2. Kalingapatnam, DargAh of Sayyid Muhammad Madni Awliya (1619-20). Temple materials used.

3. Srikakulam

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1641- 42). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Bande Shah Walt (1641- 42). Temple site.

(iii) Atharwali Masjid (1671-72). Temple site.

(iv) Dargah of Burhantr^d-Din Awliya. Temple site.

XVIII. Vishakhapatnam District.

1. Jayanagaram, Dargah. Temple site.

2. Vishakhapatnam , Dargah of Shah Madni. Temple site.

XIX. Warangal District.

Zafargarh, Jami^> Masjid. Temple site.

XX. West Godavari District.

1. Eluru

(i) Fort. Temple materials used.

(ii) Sawai Masjid. Converted temple.

(iii) Qazi^s House. Some^vara Temple materials used.

2. Nidavolu, Masjid. Mahadeva Temple materials used.

3. Rajamundri, Jami ^ Masjid (1324). Converted VeNugopalaswamin Temple.

ASSAM

District Kamrup
Ha jo

(i) Poa Masjid (1657). Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of a Muslim saint who styled himself Sultan Ghiyasir^d-Din Balban. Temple site.

BENGAL

I. Bankura District.

Lokpura, Mazar of Ghazi Ismail. Converted Venugopala temple.

II. Barisal District.

Kasba, Masjid. Temple site.

III. Birbhum District.

1. Moregram, Mazar of Sayyid Baba. Temple materials used.

2. Patharchapuri, Maza of Data, or Mahbub Sahib. Temple site.

3. Rajnagar, Several Old Masjids. Temple sites.

4. Sakulipur, Jami ^ Masjid. Temple site.

5. Siyan , Dargah of Makhdum Shah (1221). Materials of many temples used.

IV. Bogra District.

Mahasthan

(i) Dargah and Masjid of Shah Sultan Mahiswar. Stands on the ruins of a temple.

(ii) Majid on ^iladevi Ghat. Temple materials used.

V. Burdwan District.

1. Inchalabazar, Masjid (1703). Temple site.

2. Kasba, Raja, Masjid. Temple materials used.

3. Kalna

(i) Dargah of Shah Majlis (1491-93). Temple site.

(ii) Shahl Masjid (1533). Temple site.

4. Mangalkot, Jami^ Masjid (1523-24). Temple site.

5. Raikha, Talab-wali Masjid. Temple site.

6. Suata

(i) Dargah of Sayyid Shah Shahid Mahmud Bahmani. Buddhist Temple materials site.

(ii) Masjid (1502-02). Temple site.

VI. Calcutta District.

Bania Pukur, Masjid built for Alaud-Din Alau^M Haqq (1342). Temple materials used.

VII. Chatgaon District.

Dargah of Badr Makhdum. Converted Buddhist Vihara.

VIII. Dacca District.

1. Dacca

(i) Tomb of Bibi Pari. Temple materials used.

(ii) Saif Khan-ki-Masjid. Converted temple.

(iii) Churihatta Masjid. Temple materials used.

2. Narayanganj, Qadam Rasul Masjid. Temple site.

3. Rampal

(i) Masjid. Converted temple.

(ii) Dargah of Baba. Adam Shahid (1308). Temple materials used.

4. Sonargaon, Old Masjid. Temple materials used.

IX. Dinajpur District.

1. Basu-Bihar, Two Masjids. On the ruins of a Buddhist Vihara.

2. De vat ala

(i) Dargah of Shykh Jalalu^d-Din Tabrizi, Suhrawardiyyia sufi credited in Muslim histories with the
destruction of many, temples. Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid (1463). VishNu Temple site.

3. Devikot

(i) Dargah and Masjid of Pir Atau^Mlah Shah (1203). Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Shah Bukhari. Temple materials used.

(iii) Dargah of Pir Bahau^d-Din. Temple materials used.

(iv) Dargah of Shah Sultan Pir. Temple materials used.

4. Mahisantosh , Dargah and Masjid. On the site of a big VishNu Temple.

5. Nekmard, Mazar of Nekmard Shah. Temple site.

X. Faridpur District.

Faridpzir, Mazar of Farid Shah. Temple site.

XI. Hooghly District.

1. Jangipura , Mazar of Shahid Ghazi. Temple materials used.

2. Pandua

(i) Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Mazar of Shah Safiu^d-Din. Temple site.

(iii) Fath Minar. Temple materials used.

3. Santoshpur , Masjid near Molla Pukur (153-310). Temple site.

4. Satgaon , Jami^> Masjid. Temple materials used.

5. Tribeni

(i) Zafar Khan-ki-Masjid (1298). Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Zafar Khan. Temple materials used.

(iii) Masjid (1459). Temple site.

XII. Howrah District.

Jangalvilas, Pir Sahib-ki-Masjid. Converted temple.

XIII. Khulna District.

1. Masjidkur

(i) Shat Gumbaz. Temple materials used.

(ii) Mazar of Khanja Ali or Khan Jahan. Temple site.

2. Salkhira, Dargah of Mai Champa. Temple materials used.

XIV. Malda District.

1. Gangarampur

(i) Dargah of Shah Ata. ^>iva Temple site.

(ii) Masjid on the river bank (1249). Temple site.

2. Gaur, Muslim city built on the site and with the ruins of LakshmaNavati, Hindu capital destroyed by the
Muslims at the end of the twelfth century A.D. Temple materials have been used in the following
monuments:

(i) Chhoti Sona Masjid.

(ii) Qadam Rasul Masjid (1530)

(iii) Tantipara Masjid (1480)

(iv) Lattan Masjid (1475)

(v) Badi Sona Masjid (1526)

(vi) Dargah of Makhadum Akhi Siraj Chishti, disciple of Nizamu^d-Din Awliya of Delhi (1347)

(vii) Darsbari or College of Theology.

(viii) Astana of Shah Niamatir^llah.

(ix) Chamkatti Masjid (1459).

(x) Chikka Masjid.

(xi) Gunmant Masjid. Converted temple.

(xii) Dakhil Darwaza.

(xiii) Kotwali Darwaza.

(xiv) Firuz Minar.

(xv) ChaNDipur Darwaza.

(xvi) Baraduari Masjid.

(xvii) Lukachuri Masjid.

(xviii) Gumti Darwaza.

3. Malda

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1566). Temple materials used.

(ii) Sak Mohan Masjid (1427). Temple site.

4. Pandua, Another Muslim city built with the ruins of LakshmaNavati. Temple materials have been used
in the following monuments.

(i) Adina Masjid (1368)

(ii) Yaklakhi Masjid.

(iii) Chheh Hazari or Dargah of Nur Qutb-i-Alam (1415).

(iv) Bais Hazari or Khanqah of Jalalu^d-Din Tabriz! (1244).

(v) Sona Masjid.

(vi) Barn-like Masjid.

(vii) Qadam Rasul.

XV. Midnapur District.

1. Gagneswar, Karambera Garh Masjid (1509). ^iva Temple site.

2. Hijli, Masnad-i-Ala-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

3. Kesiari, Masjid (1622). Mahadeva Temple materials used.

4. Kharagpur, Mazar of Pir Lohani. Temple site.

XVI. Murshidabad District.

1. Chuna Khali, Barbak-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

2. Murshidabad, Temple materials have been used in the following monuments:

(i) Katra Masjid.

(ii) Motijhil Lake Embankments.

(iii) Sangi Dalan.

(iv) Mahal Sara^X

(v) Alivardi Khan-ki-Masjid.

(vi) Hazarduari Mahal.

3. Rangamati, Dargah on the Rakshasi DaNga. Stands on the ruins of a Buddhist Vihara.

XVII. Noakhali District.

Begamganj, Bajra Masjid. Converted temple.

XVIII. Pabna District.

Balandu, Madrasa. Converted Buddhist Vihara.

XIX. Rajshahi District.

1. Bhaturia, Masjid. ^Hva Temple materials used.

2. Kumarpura, Mazar of Mukarram Shah. Converted temple.

3. Kusumbha, Old Masjid (1490-93). Constructed entirely of temple materials.

XX. Rangpur District.

Kamatpur

(i) BaDa Dargah of Shah Ismail Ghazi. Temple site.

(ii) Idgah on a mound one mile away. Temple materials used.

XXI. Sylhet District.

1. Baniyachung, Famous Masjid. Temple site.

2. Sylhet

(i) Masjid of Shah Jalal. Temple site.

(ii) Mazars of Shah Jalal and many of his disciples. Temple sites.

XXII. 24-Parganas District.

1. Barasat , Mazar of Pir Ekdil Sahib. Temple site.

2. Berchampa, Dargah of Pir GorachaNd. Temple site.

BIHAR

I. Bhagalpur District.

1. Bhagalpur

(i) Dargah of Hazrat Shahbaz (1502). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid of Mujahidpur (1511-15). Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Makhdum Shah (1615). Temple site.

2. Champanagar

(i) Several Mazars. On ruins of Jain temples.

(ii) Masjid (1491). Jain Temple site.

3. Sultanganj, Masjid on the rock on the river bank. Temple site.

II. Gaya District.

1. Amthua, Masjid (1536). Temple site.

2. Gaya, Shahi Masjid in Nadirganj (1617). Temple site.

3. Kako, Dargah of Bibi Kamalo. Temple site.

III. Monghyr District.

1. Amoljhori, Muslim Graveyard. VishNu Temple site.

2. Charuanwan, Masjid (1576). Temple site.

3. Kharagpur

(i) Masjid (1656-57). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1695-96). Temple site.

4. Monghyr

(i) Fort Gates. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Shah Nafa^ Chishti (1497-98). Temple site.

IV. Muzaffarpur District.

Zaruha, MamuN-BhaNja-ka-Mazar. Temple materials used.

V. Nalanda District.

1. Biharsharif Muslim capital built after destroying UdaNDapura which had a famous Buddhist Vihara.
Most of the Muslim monuments were built on the site and from materials of temples. The following are
some of them:

(i) Dargah of Makhdumu^M Mulk Sharifu^d-Din. (d. 1380).

(ii) BaDa Dargah.

(iii) Chhota Dargah.

(iv) Baradari.

(v) Dargah of Shah Fazlu^Mlah GosaiN.

(iv) Mazar of Malik Ibrahim Bayyu on Pir PahaDi.

(vii) Kabiriu^d-Din-ki-Masjid (1353).

(viii) Mazar of Sayyid Muhammad Siwistani.

(ix) Chhota Takiya containing the Mazar of Shah Diwan Abdul Wahhab.

(x) Dargah of Shah Qumais (1359-60).

(xi) Masjid in Chandpur Mahalla.

(xii) Jami^> Masjid in Paharpur Mahalla.

2. Pcirbati, Dargah of Haji Chandar or ChaNd Saudagar. Temple materials used.

3. Shaikhupura , Dargah of Shykh Sahib. Temple materials used.

VI. Patna District.

1. Hi Isa

(i) Dargah of Shah Jumman Madariyya (repaired in 1543). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid. (1604-05). Temple site.

2. Jana, Jami^ Masjid (1539). Temple site.

3. Kailvan, Dargah and Masjid. Temple site.

4. Maner, All Muslim monuments stand on temple sites. The following are prominent among them:

(i) BaDa Dargah of Sultanu^M Makhdum Shah Yahya Maneri.

(ii) Dargah of Makhdum Daulat Shah.

(iii) Jami^ Masjid.

(iv) Mazar of Haji Nizamu^d-Din.

5. Muhammadpur, Jami^ Masjid (1510-11). Temple site.

6. Patna

(i) Patthar-ki-Masjid (1626). Temple materials used.

(ii) Begu Hajjam-ki-Masjid (1510-11). Temple materials used.

(iii) Muslim Graveyard outside the Qiladari. On the ruins of Buddhist Viharas.

(iv) Dargah of Shah Mir Mansur. On the ruins of a Buddhist Stupa.

(v) Dargah of Shah Arzani. On the site of a Buddhist Vihara.

(vi) Dargah of Pir Damariya. On the site of a Buddhist Vihara.

(vii) Mirza Masum-ki-Masjid (1605). Temple materials used.

(viii) Meetan Ghat-ki-Masjid (1605). Temple site.

(ix) Katra Masjid of Shaista Khan. Temple site.

(x) Khwaja Ambar Masjid (1688-89). Temple site.

(xi) Babuganj Masjid (1683-86). Temple site.

(xii) Sher-Shahi Masjid near Purab Darwaza. Temple site.

(xiii) Chamni Ghat-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

7. Phulwarisharif

(i) Dargah of Shah Pashminaposh. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Minhaju^d-Din Rasti. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Lai Mian. Temple site.

(iv) Sangi Masjid (1549-50). Temple site.

VII. Purnea District.

1. Hadaf ., Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

2. Puranea, Masjid in Keonlpura. Temple site.

VIII. Saran District.

1. Chirand, Masjid (1503-04). Temple site.

2. Narhan, Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

3. Tajpur-Basahi Mazar of Khwaja Badshah. Temple materials used.

IX. Shahabad District.

1. Rohtasgarh

(i) Masjid of Aurangzeb. Part of a temple converted.

(ii) Mazar of Saqi Sultan. Temple site.

2. Sasaram, Mazar of Chandan Shahid Pir. Temple site.

X. Vaishali District.

1. Amer, Mazar of Pir Qattal. Temple materials used.

2. Chehar

(i) Fort. Temple materials used.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

3. Plajipur

(i) Haji Ilyas-ki- Masjid. Converted temple.

(ii) Dargah of Barkhurdar Awliya. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Pir Shattari. Temple site.

(iv) Dargah of Hajiu^l Harmain. Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Pir Jalallied-Din. Temple site.

4. Basarh

(i) DargAh of Pir Miran. On top of a Buddhist Stupa.

(ii) Mazar of Shykh Muhammad Faizu^Mlah Ali alias Qazin Shattari. Temple site.

(iii) Graveyard. Many tombs built with temple materials.

(iv) Masjid. Temple site.

XI. District to be determined.

1. Hasanpura , Mazar of Makhdum Hasan. On the site of a Buddhist Stupa,

2. Jhangira, Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

DELHI

Islamic invaders destroyed the Hindu cities of Indarpat and Dhillika with their extensive suburbs and built
seven cities successively. The following Muslim monuments stand on the site of Hindu temples; temple
materials can be seen in some of them.

I. Mehrauli

1. Quwwatu^H Islam Masjid (1198).

2. Qutb Minar.

3. Maqbara of Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (1235.)

4. Dargah of Shykh Qutbu^d-Din Bakhtyar Kaki (d. 1236).

5. Jahaz Mahal.

6. Alai Darwaza.

7. Alai Minar.

8. Madrasa and Maqbara of AI filled-Din Khalji.

9. Maqbara of Ghiyau^d-Din Balban.

10. Masjid and Mazar of Shykh Fazlu^Hlah known as Jamali-Kamali.

11. MaDhi Masjid.

II. Sultan Ghari

Maqbara of Nasiru^d-Din, son of Sultan Shamsir^d-Din Iltutmish (1231).

III. Palam

Babri (Ghazanfar) Masjid (1528-29).

IV. Begumpur

1. Masjid.

2. Bijai Mandal.

3. Kalu Sarai-ki-Masjid.

4. Mazar of Shykh Najibu^d-Dm Mutwakkal Chishti (d. 1272).

V. Tughlaqabad

Maqbara of Ghiyasu^d-Din Tughlaq.

VI. Chiragh-Delhi

1. Dargah of Shykh Nasiru^d-Din Chiragh-i-Dehli (d. 1356).

2. Maqbara of Bahlul Lodi.

VII. Nizamu &d-DIn

1. Dargah and Jama^t-Khana Masjid of Shykh Nizamu^d-Din Awliya fd. 1325).

2. Kalan Masjid.

3. ChauNsaTh-Khamba.

4. Maqbara of Khan-i-Jahan Tilangani.

5. Chilla of Nizam^>d-Din Awliya.

6. Lai Mahal.

VIII. Hciuz Khas

1. Maqbara and Madrasa of Firuz Shah Tughlaq.

2. Dadi-Poti-ka-Maqbara.

3. Biran-ka-Gumbad.

4. Chhoti and Sakri Gumti.

5. Nil! Masjid (1505-06).

6. Idgah (1404-00).

7. Bagh-i-Alam-ka-Gumbad (1501).

8. Mazar of Nuru^d-Din Mubarak Ghaznawi (1234-35).

IX. Malviyanagar

1. Lai Gumbad or the Mazar of Shykh Kabiru^d-Din Awliya (1397).

2. Mazar of Shykh Alau^d-Din (1507).

3. Mazar of Shykh Yusuf Qattal (d. 1527).

4. Khirki Masjid.

X. Lodi Gardens

1. Maqbara of Muhammad Shah.

2. BaDa Gumbad Masjid (1494).

3. Shish Gumbad.

4. Maqbara of Sikandar Lodi.

XI. Purana Qila

1. Sher Shah Gate.

2. Qala-i-Kuhna Masjid.

3. KhaimManzil Masjid.

XII. Shahjahanabad

1. Kali Masjid at Turkman Gate.

2. Maqbara of Razia Sultan.

3. Jami^ Masjid on Bhojala PahaDi.

4. Ghata or Zainatu^M Masjid.

5. Dargah of Shah Turkman (1240).

XIII. Ramakrishnapuram

1. Tin Burji Maqbara.

2. Malik Munir-ki-Masjid.

3. Wazirpur-ka-Gumbad.

4. Munda Gumbads.

5. Bara-Lao-ka-Gumbad.

6. Barje-ka-Gumbad.

XIV. The Ridge

1. Malcha Mahal,

2. Bhttli Bhatiyari-ka-Mahal.

3. Qadam Sharif.

4. Chauburza Masjid.

5. Pir Ghaib.

XV. Wazirabad

Masjid and Mazar of Shah Alam.

XVI. South Extension

1. Kale Khan-ka-Gumbad.

2. Bhure Khan-ka-Gumbad.

3. Chhote Khan-ka-Gumbad.

4. BaDe Khan-ka-Gumbad.

XVII. Other Areas

1. Maqbara of Mubarak Shah in Kotla Mubarakpur.

2. Kushk Mahal in Tin Murti.

3. Sundar Buij in Sundarnagar.

4. Jami^ Masjid in Kotla Firuz Shah.

5. Abdu^n-Nabi-ki-Masjid near Tilak Bridge.

6. Maqbara of Raushanara Begum.

Jami^ Masjid (1404). Temple site.

DIU

GUJARAT

I. Ahmadabad District.

1. Ahmadabad, Materials of temples destroyed at Asaval, Patan and Chandravati were used in the building
of this Muslim city and its monuments. Some of the monuments are listed below :

(i) Palace and Citadel of Bhadra.

(ii) Ahmad Shah-ki-Masjid in Bhadra.

(iii) Jami^> Masjid of Ahmad Shah.

(iv) Haibat Khan-ki-Masjid.

(v) Rani Rupmati-ki-Masjid.

(vi) Rani Bai Harir-ki-Masjid.

(vii) Malik SaraNg-ki-Masjid.

(viii) Mahfuz Khan-ki-Masjid.

(ix) Sayyid Alam-ki-Masjid.

(x) Pattharwali or Qutb Shah-ki-Masjid.

(xi) Sakar Khan-ki-Masjid.

(xii) Baba Lulu-ki-Masjid.

(xiii) Shykh Hasan Muhammad Chishti-ki-Masjid.

(xiv) Masjid at Isanpur.

(xv) Masjid and Mazar of Malik Sha^ban.

(xvi) Masjid and Mazar of Rani Sipri (Sabarai).

(xvii) Masjid and Mazar of Shah Alam at Vatva.

(xviii) Maqbara of Sultan Ahmad Shah I.

2. Dekwara, Masjid (1387). Temple site.

3. Dholka

(i) Masjid and Mazar of Bahlol Khan Ghazi. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Barkat Shahid (1318). Temple site.

(iii) Tanka or Jami ^ Masjid (1316). Temple materials used.

(iv) Hillal Khan Qazi-ki-Masjid (1333). Temple materials used.

(v) Khirni Masjid (1377). Converted Bavan Jinalaya Temple.

(vi) Kali Bazar Masjid (1364). Temple site.

4. Isapur, Masjid. Temple site.

5. Mandal

(i) Sayyid-ki-Masj id (1462). Temple site.

(ii) Jami^> Masjid. Temple site.

6. Paldi, Patthar-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

7. Ranpur, Jami^ Masjid (1524-25). Temple site.

8. Sarkhej

(i) Dargah of Shykh Ahmad Khattu Ganj Baksh (d. 1445). Temple materials used.

(ii) Maqbara of Sultan Mahmud BegaDa. Temple materials used.

9. Usmanpur, Masjid and Mazar of Sayyid Usman. Temple site.

II. Banaskantha District.

1. Haldvar , Mazar of Lun Shah and Gujar Shah. Temple site.

2. Halol

(i) Ek Minar-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) PaNch MuNhDa-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Jami^ Masjid (1523-24). Temple site.

3. Malan , Jami^> Masjid (1462). Temple materials used.

III. Baroda District.

1. Baroda

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1504-05) Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Pir Amir Tahir with its Ghazi Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Pir GhoDa (1421-23). Temple site.

2. Dabhoi

(i) Dargah of PaNch Bibi. Temple materials used.

(ii) Mazar of Mai Dhokri. Temple materials used.

(iii) Fort. Temple materials used.

(iv) Hira, Baroda, MabuDa and NandoDi Gates. Temple materials used.

(v) MahuNDi Masjid. Temple materials used.

3. Danteshwar, Mazar of Qutbir^d-Din. Temple site.

4. Sankheda, Masjid (1515-16). Temple site.

IV. Bharuch District.

1. Amod, Jami^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

2. Bharuch

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1321). Brahmanical and Jain temple materials used.

(ii) Ghaznavi Masjid (1326). Temple site.

(iii) Idgah (1326). Temple site.

(iv) ChunawaDa Masjid (1458). Temple site.

(v) Qazi-ki-Masjid (1609). Temple site.

(vi) Mazar of Makhdum Sharifu^d-Din (1418). Temple site.

3. Jambusar, Jami^> Masjid (1508-09). Temple site.

4. Tankaria, BaDi or Jami^ Masjid (1453). Temple site.

V. Bhavnagar District.

1. Botad, Mazar of Pir Hamir Khan. Temple site.

2. Tolaja, Idgah and Dargah of Hasan Pir. Temple site.

3. Ghoda, Masjid (1614). Temple site.

VI. Jamnagar District.

1. Amran , Dargah of Dawal Shah. Temple materials used.

2. Bet Dwarka, Dargah of Pir Kirmani. Temple site.

3. Dwarka, Masjid (1473). Temple site.

VII. Junagarh District.

1. Junagarh

(i) BorwaD Masjid (1470). Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid in Uparkot. Jain Temple site.

(iii) Masjid at Mai GaDhechi. Converted Jain temple.

2. Loliyana, Dargah of Madar Shah. Temple site.

3. Kutiana, Jami Masjid. Temple site.

4. Mangrol

(i) Rahmat Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Jami^> Masjid (1382-83). Temple materials used.

(iii) JunI Jail-ki-Masjid (1385-86). Temple site.

(iv) Revali Masjid (1386-87). Temple materials used.

(v) Masjid at Bandar. Temple materials used.

(vi) Dargah near Revali Masjid. Temple materials used.

(vii) Mazar of Sayyid Sikandar alias Makhdum Jahaniya (1375). Temple materials used,
(viii) GaDhi Gate. Temple materials used.

5. Somnath Patan

(i) Bazar Masjid (1436). Temple site.

(ii) Chandni Masjid (1456). Temple site.

(iii) Qazi-ki-Masjid (1539). Temple site.

(iv) PathanwaDi Masjid (1326). Temple site.

(v) Muhammad Jamadar-ki-Masjid (1420). Temple site.

(vi) MiThashah Bhang-ki-Masjid (1428). Temple site.

(vii) Jami^> Masjid. Temple materials used.

(viii) Masjid made out of the SomanAtha Temple of Kumarapala.

(ix) Masjid at the back of the Somanatha Temple. Converted temple.

(x) Mota Darwaza. Temple materials used.

(xi) Maipuri Masjid on the way to Veraval. Temple materials used.

(xii) Dargah of Mangluri Shah near Maipuri Masjid. Temple materials used.

(xiii) Shahid Mahmud-ki-Masjid (1694). Temple site.

6. Vanasthali, Jami^ Masjid. Converted VAmana Temple.

7. Veraval

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1332). Temple site.

(ii) Nagina Masjid (1488). Temple site.

(iii) Chowk Masjid. Temple site.

(iv) MaNDvi Masjid. Temple site.

(v) Mazar of Sayyid Ishaq or Maghribi Shah. Temple site.

(vi) Dargah of Muhammad bin Haji Gilani. Temple site.

VIII. Kachchh District.

1. Bhadreshwar

(i) Solakhambi Masjid. Jain Temple materials used.

(ii) ChhoTi Masjid. Jain Temple materials used.

(iii) Dargah of Pir Lai Shahbaz. Jain Temple materials used.

2. Bhuj

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Gumbad of Baba Guru. Temple site.

3. Munra or MunDra, Seaport built from the materials of Jain temples of Bhadreshwar which were
demolished by the Muslims; its Safed Masjid which can be seen from afar was built from the same
materials.

IX. Kheda District.

1. Kapadwani

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1370-71). Temple site.

(ii) Sam Shahid-ki-Masjid (1423). Temple site.

2. Khambhat

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1325). Jain Temple materials used.

(ii) Masjid in Qaziwara (1326). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid in Undipet (1385). Temple site.

(iv) Sadi-i-Awwal Masjid (1423). Temple site.

(v) Fujra-ki-Masjid (1427). Temple site.

(vi) Mazar of Umar bin Ahmad Kazruni. Jain Temple materials used.

(vii) Mazar of Qabil Shah. Temple site.

(viii) Mazar of Shykh Alt Jaulaqi known as Parwaz Shah (1498). Temple site.

(ix) Mazar of Shah Bahlol Shahid. Temple site.

(x) Maqbara of Ikhtiyaru^d-Daula (1316). Temple site.

(xi) IdgAh (1381-82). Temple site.

3. Mahuda, Jami^ Masjid (1318). Temple site.

4. Sojali, Sayyid Mubarak-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

X. Mehsana District.

1. Kadi

(i) Masjid (1384). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1583). Temple site.

2. Kheralu , Jami^> Masjid (1409-10). Temple site.

3. Modhera, Rayadi Masjid. Temple site.

4. Munjpur, Jami^ Masjid (1401-02). Temple site.

5. Patan

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1357). Temple materials used.

(ii) Phuti Mahalla or Pinjar Kot-ki-Masjid (1417). Temple site.

(iii) Bazar-ki-Masjid (1490). Temple site.

(iv) Masjid in a field that was the Sahasralinga Talav. Temple materials used.

(v) Masjid and Dargah of Makhdum Husamu^d-Din Chishti, disciple of Shykh Nizamtr^d-Din Awliya of

Delhi. Temple materials used.

(vi) GumDa Masjid (1542). Temple site.

(vii) RangrezoN-ki-Masjid (1410-11). Temple site.

(viii) Dargah of Shykh Muhammad Turk Kashgari (1444-45). Temple site.

(ix) Dargah of Shykh Farid. Converted temple.

6. Sami, Jami^ Masjid (1404). Temple site.

7. Sidhpur, Jami ^ Masjid. Built on the site and with the materials of the Rudra-mahalaya Temple of
Siddharaja JayasiMha.

8. Una , Dargah of Hazrat Shah Pir. Temple site.

9. Vijapur

(i) Kalan Masjid (1369-70). Temple site.

(ii) Mansuri Masjid. Temple site.

XI. Panch Mahals District.

1. Champaner

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1524). Temple site.

(ii) Bhadra of Mahmud BegDa. Temple site.

(iii) Shahr-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

2. Godhra, Masjid. Temple site.

3. Pavagadh

(i) Masjid built on top of the Devi Temple.

(ii) PaNch MuNhDa Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Jami^> Masjid. Temple site,

4. Rayania, Masjid (1499-1500). Temple site.

XII. Rajkot District.

1. Jasdan , Dargah of Kalu Pir. Temple materials used.

2. Khakhrechi

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Kamal Shah Pir. Temple site.

3. Mahuva, Idgah (1418). Temple site.

4. Malia , Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

5. Morvi, Masjid (1553). Temple site.

6. Santrampur, Masjid (1499-1500). Temple site.

XIII. Sabarkantha District.

1. Hersel, Masjid (1405). Temple site.

2. Himmatnagar, Moti-Mohlat Masjid in Nani Vorwad (1471). Temple site.

3. Prantij

(i) Fath or Tekrewali Masjid (1382). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Sikandar Shah Shahid (d. 1418). Temple materials used.

XIV. Surat District.

1. Navasari

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1340). Temple site.

(ii) Shahi Masjid. Temple site.

2. Rander , The Jains who predominated in this town were expelled by Muslims and all temples of the
former were converted into mosques. The following mosques stand on the site of and/or are constructed
with materials from those temples:

(i) Jami^> Masjid.

(ii) Nit Nauri Masjid.

(iii) Mian-ki-Masjid.

(iv) Kharwa Masjid.

(v) Munshi-ki-Masjid.

3. Surat

(i) Mirza Sami-ki-Masjid (1336). Temple site.

(ii) Nau Sayyid Sahib-ki-Masjid and the nine Mazars on Gopi Talav in honour of nine Ghazis. Temple
sites.

(iii) Fort built in the reign of Farrukh Siyar. Temple materials used.

(iv) Gopi Talav (1718). Temple materials used.

4. Tadkeshwar, Jami^> Masjid (1513-14). Temple site.

XV. Surendranagar District.

1. Sara , DarbargaDh-ki-Masjid (1523). Temple site.

2. Vad Nagar, Masjid (1694). Stands on the site of the Hatake^vara Mahadeva temple.

3. Wadhwan, Jami^> Masjid (1439). Temple site.

HARYANA

I. Ambala District.

1. Pinjor, Temple materials have been used in the walls and buildings of the Garden of Fidai Khan.

2. Sadhaura

(i) Masjid built in Khalji times. Temple materials used.

(ii) Two Masjids built in the reign of Jahangir. Temple materials used.

(iii) QazioN-ki-Masjid (1640). Temple site.

(iv) Abdul Wahab-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Shah Qumais. Temple site.

II. Faridabad District.

1. Faridabad , Jami^ Masjid (1605). Temple site.

2. Nuh , Masjid (1392-93). Temple materials used.

3. Palwal

(i) Ikramwali or JamiMasjid (1221). Temple materials used.

(ii) Idgah (1211). Temple material Is used.

(iii) Mazar of Sayyid Chiragh. Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Ghazi Shihabu^d-Din. Temple site.

(v) Mazar of Sayyid Warah. Temple site.

III. Gurgaon District.

1. Bawal, Masjid (1560). Temple site.

2. Farrukhnagar, Jami fk Masjid (1276). Temple site.

3. Sohna

(i) Masjid (1561). Temple site.

(ii) Mazars known as Kala and Lai Gumbad. Temple sites.

IV. Hissar District.

1. Barwala, Masjid (1289). Temple site.

2. Fatehabad

(i) Idgah of Tughlaq times. Temple materials used.

(ii) Masjid built by Humanyun (1539). Temple site.

3. Hansi

(i) Idgah built in the reign of Shamstr^d-Din Iltutmish. Temple site.

(ii) JulahoN-ki-Masjid built in the same reign. Temple site.

(iii) Bu Alt Baksh Masjid (1226). Temple site.

(iv) Adina Masjid (1336). Temple site.

(v) Masjid in the Fort (1192). Temple site.

(vi) Shahid-Ganj Masjid. Temple site.

(vii) Humayun-ki-Masjid. Temple materials used.

(viii) Dargah of Niamatu^llah Walt with adjascent Baradari. Temple materials used.

(ix) Dargah of Bu Alt Qalandar (1246). Temple site.

(x) Dargah of Shykh Jalalu^d-Din Haqq (1303). Temple site.

(xi) Dargah of Mahammad Jamil Shah. Temple site.

(xii) Dargah of Wilayat Shah Shahid (1314). Temple site.

(xiii) Chahar Qutb and its Jami^> Masjid. Temple materials used.

(xiv) Fort and City Gates. Temple materials used.

4. Hissar , This city was built by Firuz Shah Tughlaq with temple materials brought mostly from Agroha
which had been destroyed by Muhammad Ghuri in 1192.

(i) Lat-ki-Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Humayun^s Jami fk Masjid (1535). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid and Mazar of Bahlul Lodi. Temple site.

(iv) Humayun^s Masjid outside Delhi Gate (1533). Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Baba Pran Pir Padshah. Temple materials used.

(vi) Fort of Firuz Shah Tughlaq. Temple materials used.

(vii) Jahaz Mahal. Converted Jain Temple.

(viii) Gujari Mahal. Temple materials used.

5. Sirsa

(i) Masjid in the Mazar of Imam Nasir (1277). Temple materials used.

(ii) Babari Masjid in the Sarai (1530). Temple site.

(iii) QazIzada-ki-Masjid (1540). Temple site.

V. Karnal District.

Panipat

(i) Masjid opposite the Mazar of Bu Alt Qalandar^s mother (1246). Temple site.

(ii) Babari Masjid in Kabuli Bagh (1528-29). Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Shykh Jalalu^d-Din (1499). Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Bu Alt Qalandar (1660). Temple site.

VI. Kurukshetra District.

1. Kaithal

(i) Dargah of Shykh Salahtr^d-Din Ahu^l Muhammad of Balkh (d. 1246). Temple materials used.

(ii) Shah Wilayat-ki-Masjid (1657-58). Temple site.

(iii) Jami ^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

(iv) Madrasa. Temple materials used.

2. Kurukshetra, Madrasa on the Tila. Temple site.

3. Thanesar

(i) Dargah and Madrasa of Shykh Chilli or Chehali Bannuri. Temple materials used.

(ii) Patharia Masjid near Harsh-ka-Tila. Temple materials used.

(iii) Chiniwali Masjid. Temple materials used.

VII. Mahendergarh District.

Narnaul, Mazar of Pir Turk Shahid or Shah Wilayat (d. 1137). Temple site.

VIII. Rohtak District.

1. Jhajjar, Kali Masjid (1397). Temple site.

2. Maham,

(i) PirzadoN-ki-Masjid built in Babar^s reign (1529). Temple site.

(ii) Humayun^s Jami ^ Masjid (1531). Temple site.

(iii) QasaiyoN-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1669). Temple site.

(v) Daulat Khan-ki-Masjid (1696). Temple site.

3. Rohtak

(i) Dini Masjid (1309). Temple materials used.

(ii) Masjid in the Fort (1324). Temple site.

(iii) Babar^s Masjid-i-Khurd (1527-28). Temple site.

(iv) Babar^s RajputoN-ki-Masjid. (1528). Temple site.

(v) Second or Humayun^s Masjid in the Fort (1538). Temple site.

(vi) Masjid at Gokaran (1558). Temple site.

(vii) DogroN Walt Masjid (1571). Temple site.

(viii) Mast Khan-ki-Masjid (1558-59) Temple site.

IX. Sonepat District.

1. Gohana, Dargah of Shah Ziau^d-Din Muhammad. Temple site.

2. Sonepat

(i) Masjid and Mazar of Imam Nasir (renovated in 1277). Temple site.

(ii) Babar^s ShykhzadoN-ki-Masjid (1530). Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Khwaja Khizr. Temple site.

(iv) Humayun's Masjid (1538). Temple site.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Kangra , Jahangiri Gate. Temple materials used.

KARNATAKA

I. Bangalore District.

1. Dodda-Ballapur , Dargah of Muhitr^d-Din Chishti of Ajodhan (d. 1700). Temple materials used.

2. Hoskot

(i) Dargah of Saballi Sahib. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Qasim Sahib. Converted temple.

II. Belgaum District.

1. Belgaum

(i) Masjid-i-Safa in the Fort (1519). Temple site.

(ii) Jami^> Masjid (1585-86). Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Badrtr^d-Din Shah in the Fort (1351-52). Temple site.

2. Gokak, Masjid. Temple site.

3. Hukeri

(i) Man Sahib-ki-Dargah (1567-68). Temple site.

(ii) Kali Masjid (1584). Temple materials used.

4. Kudachi

(i) Dargah of Makhdum Shah Walt. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Shykh Muhammad Sirajtr^d-Din Pirdadi. Temple site.

5. Madbhavi, Masjid. ^>iva Temple materials used.

6. Raibag , Jami^ Masjid. Temple site,

7. Sampgaon, Masjid. Temple site.

III. Bellary District.

1. Bellary, Masjid built by Tipu Sultan (1789-90). Temple site.

2. Hampi, Masjid and Idgah in the ruins of Vijayanagar. Temple materials used.

3. Hospet, Masjid in Bazar Street built by Tipu Sultan (1795-96). Temple site.

4. Huvinhadgalli, Fort. Temple materials used.

5. Kanchagarabelgallu, Dargah of Husain Shah. Temple site.

6. Kudtani, Dargah. Durge^vara Temple materials used.

7. Sandur, Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

8. Siruguppa, Lad Khan Masjid (1674). Temple site.

9. Sultanpuram, Masjid on the rock. Temple site.

IV. Bidar District.

1. Bidar, Ancient Hindu city transformed into a Muslim capital. The following monuments stand on temple
sites and/or temple materials have been used in their construction:

(i) Sola Khamba Masjid (1326-27).

(ii) Jami^ Masjid of the Bahmanis.

(iii) Mukhtar Khan-ki-Masjid (1671).

(iv) Kali Masjid (1694).

(v) Masjid west of Kali Masjid (1697-98).

(vi) Farrah-Bagh Masjid, 3 km outside the city (1671).

(vii) Dargah of Hazrat Khalilu^llah at Ashtur (1440).

(viii) Dargah of Shah Shamsu^d-Din Muhammad Qadiri known as Multani Padshah.

(ix) Dargah of Shah Waliu^Mlah-al-Husaini.

(x) Dargah of Shah Zainu^M-Din Ganj Nishin.

(xi) Dargah and Masjid of Mahbub Subhani.

(xii) Mazar of Ahmad Shah Wall at Ashtur (1436).

(xiii) Mazar of Shah Abdul Aziz (1484).

(xiv) Takht Mahal.

(xv) Gagan Mahal.

(xvi) Madrasa of Mahmud Gawan.

2. Chandpur, Masjid (1673-74). Temple site.

3. Chillergi, Jami^ Masjid (1381). Temple site.

4. Kalyani, Capital of the Later Chalukyas. All their temples were either demolished or converted into
mosques.

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1323). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1406). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid in Mahalla Shahpur (1586-87). Temple site.

(iv) Dargah of Maulana Yaqub. Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Sayyid Pir Pasha. Temple site.

(vi) Fort Walls and Towers. Temple materials used.

(vii) Nawab^s Bungalow. Temple materials used.

5. Kohir

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargahs of two Muslim saints. Temple sites.

6. Shahpur, Masjid (1586-87). Temple site.

7. Udbal, Jami^ Masjid (1661-62). Temple site.

V. Bijapur District.

1. Afzalpur, Mahal Masjid. Trikuta Temple materials used.

2. Badami, Second Gateway of the Hill Fort. VishNu Temple materials used.

3. Bekkunal, Dargah outside the village. Temple materials used.

4. Bijapur, Ancient Hindu city transformed into a Muslim capital. The following monuments are built on
temple sites and/or temple materials have been used in their construction:

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1498-99).

(ii) Karimu^d-Din-ki-Masjid in the Ark (1320-21).

(iii) ChhoTa Masjid on way to Mangoli Gate.

(iv) Khwaja Sambal-ki-Masjid (1522-13).

(v) Makka Masjid.

(vi) AnDu Masjid.

(via) Zangiri Masjid.

(viii) Bukhara Masjid (1536-37).

(ix) Dakhini Idgah (1538-39).

(x) Masjid and Rauza of Ibrahim II Adil Shah (1626).

(xi) Gol Gumbaz or the Rauza of Muhammad Adil Shah.

(xii) JoD-Gumbad.

(xiii) Nau-Gumbad.

(xiv) Dargah of Shah Musa Qadiri.

(xv) Gagan Mahal.

(xvi) Mihtar Mahal.

(xvii) Asar Mahal.

(xvii) Anand Mahal and Masjid (1495).

(xviii) Sat Manzil.

(xix) Ark or citadel.

(xx) Mazar of Pir Ma^bari Khandayat.

(xxi) Mazar of Pir Jumna.

(xxii) Dargah of Shah Miranji Shamsu^l-Haq Chishti on Shahpur Hill.

5. Hadginhali, Dargah. Temple materials used.

6. Horti, Masjid. Temple materials used.

7. Inglesvara, Muhiu^d-Din Sahib-ki-Masjid. Munipa Samadhi materials used.

8. Jirankalgi , Masjid. Temple materials used.

9. Kcilleeri , Masjid near the village Chawdi. Ke^avadeva Temple materials used.

10. Mamdapur

(i) Jami^> Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Kamal Sahib. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Sadie Sahib of Makka. Temple site.

11. Naltvad, Masjid (1315). Temple materials used.

12. Pirapur, Dargah. Temple site.

13. Salvadigi, Masjid. Temple materials used.

14. Sarur, Masjid. Temple materials used.

15. Segaon , Dargah. Temple site.

16. Takli, Masjid. Temple materials used.

17. Talikota

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Jain Temple materials used.

(ii) PaNch Pir-ki-Masjid and Ganji-i-Shahidan. Temple site.

18. Utagi , Masjid (1323). Temple site.

VI. Chickmanglur District.

Baba Budan, Mazar of Dada Hayat Mir Qalandar. Dattatreya Temple site.

VII. Chitaldurg District.

Harihar , Masjid on top of Harihare^vara Temple.

VIII. Dharwad District.

1. Alnavar, Jami ^ Masjid. Jain Temple materials used.

2. Bankapur

(i) Masjid (1538-39). Temple site.

(ii) Jami^> Masjid (1602-03). Temple site.

(iii) Graveyard with a Masjid. Temple site.

(iv) Dongar-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Shah Alau^d-Din-Qadiri. Temple site.

(vi) Fort (1590-91). Temple materials used,

3. Balur, Masjid. Temple materials used.

4. Dambal, Mazar of Shah Abdu^llah Walt. Temple materials used.

5. Dandapur, Jami ^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

6. Dharwad , Masjid on Mailarling Hill. Converted Jain Temple.

7. Hangal

(i) Jami^> Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid in the Fort. Temple site.

8. Hubli, 17 Masjids built by Aurangzeb in 1675 and after Temple sites.

9. Hulgur

(i) Dargah of Sayyid Shah Qadiri. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid near the above Dargah. Temple site.

10. Lakshmeshwar, Kali Masjid. Temple site.

11. Misrikot, Jami^ Masjid (1585-86). Temple site.

12. Mogha, Jami fb Masjid. Adityadeva Temple materials used.

13. Ranebennur , Qala, Masjid (1742). Temple site.

14. Savanur

(i) Jami^> Masjid reconstructed in 1847-48. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Khairu^llah Shah Badshah. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah and Masjid of Shah Kamal. Temple site.

IX. Gulbarga District.

1. Chincholi, Dargah. Temple site.

2. Dornhalli, Masjid. Temple site.

3. Firozabad

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1406). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Shah Khalifatu^r-Rahman Qadiri (d. 1421). Temple site.

4. Gobur , Dargah. Ratnaraya Jinalaya Temple materials used.

5. Gogi

(i) Araba^a Masjid (1338). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Pir Chanda, Husaini (1454). Temple site.

(iii) Chilla of Shah Habibu^Hlah (1535-36). Temple site.

6. Gulbarga, Ancient Hindu city converted into a Muslim capital and the following among other
monuments built on temple sites and/or with temple materials:

(i) Kalan Masjid in Mahalla Mominpura (1373).

(ii) Masjid in Shah Bazar (1379).

(iii) Jami^> Masjid in the Fort (1367).

(iv) Masjid-i-Langar in the Mazar of Haji Zaida.

(v) Masjid near the Farman Talab (1353-54).

(vi) Dargah of Sayyid Muhammad Husaini Banda, Nawaz Gesu Daraz Chishti, disciple of Shykh
Nasiru^d-Din Mahmud ChirAgh-i-Dihli.

(vii) Mazar of Shykh Muhammad Siraju^d-Din Junaidi.

(viii) Mazar of Haji Zaida of Maragh (1434)

(ix) Mazar of Sayyid Husainu^d-Din Tigh-i-Barhna (naked sword).

(x) Fort Walls and Gates.

7. Gulsharam, Dargah and Masjid of Shah Jalal Husaini (1553). Temple site.

8. Malkhed, Dargah of Sayyid Ja^H'ar Husaini in the Fort. Temple site.

9. Sagar

(i) Dargah of Sufi Sarmast Chishti, disciple of Nizamu^d-Din Awliya of Delhi. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Munawwar Badshah. Temple site.

(iii) Ashur Khana Masjid (1390-91). Temple site.

(iv) Fort (1411-12). Temple materials used.

10. Seram, Jami ^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

11. Shah Bazar , Jami Masjid. Temple site.

12. Shahpur

(i) Dargah of Musa Qadiri (1667-68). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Muhammad Qadiri (1627). Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of IbrAhlm Qadiri. Temple site.

13. Yadgir

(i) Athan Masjid (1573). Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

X. Kolar District.

1. Mulbagal, Dargah of Hyder Wali. Temple site.

2. Nandi , Masjid east of the village. Temple site.

XI. Mandya District.

1. Pandavapur , Masjid-i-Ala. Temple site.

2. Srirangapatnam, Jami Masjid built by Tipu Sultan (1787). Stands on the site of the Anjaneya Temple.

XII. Mysore District.

Tonnur, Mazar said to be that of Sayyid Salar Mas^ud (1358). Temple materials used.

XIII. North Kanara District.

1. Bhatkal, Jami4> Masjid (1447-48). Temple site.

2. Haliyal, Masjid in the Fort. Temple materials used.

XIV. Raichur District.

1. Jaladurga , Dargah of Muhammad Sarwar. Temple site.

2. Kallur, Two Masjids. Temple sites.

3. Koppal

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Arabon-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Sailani Pasha. Temple site.

4. Manvi, Masjid (1406-07). Temple materials used.

5. Mudgal

(i) Masjid at Kati Darwaza of the Fort. Temple materials used.

(ii) Nai Masjid (1583-84). Temple site.

(iii) Two Ashur Khanas built by Ali I Adil Shah. Temple site.

(iv) Fort (1588). Temple materials used.

6. Raichur

(i) Yak Minar Masjid in the Fort (1503). Temple site.

(ii) Daftarf Masjid in the Fort (1498-99). Temple materials used.

(iii) Hazar Baig Masjid (1511-12). Temple site

(iv) Jami^ Masjid in the Fort (1622-23). Temple materials used.

(v) Jami^ Masjid in Sarafa Bazar (1628-29). Temple site.

(vi) Kali Masjid in the Fort. Temple materials used.

(vii) Masjid inside the Naurangi. Temple materials used.

(viii) Chowk-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ix) Jahaniya Masjid (1700-01). Temple site.

(x) Dargah of Shah Mir Hasan and Mir Husain. Temple materials used.

(xi) Dargah of Sayyid Abdul Husaini at Sikandari Gate. Temple site.

(xii) Panch Bibi Dargah at Bala Hissar. Temple materials used.

(xiii) Mazar of Pir Sailani Shah in the Fort. Temple materials used,
(xiv) Fort. Temple materials used.

7. Sindhanur, Alamgiri Masjid near the Gumbad. Temple site.

8. Tawagera, Dargah of Banda Nawaz. Temple site.

XV. Shimoga District.

1. Almel, Mazar of Ghalib Shah. Temple site.

2. Basavpatna , Masjid near the Fort. Temple site.

3. Nagar, Masjid built by Tipu Sultan. Temple materials used.

4. Saute Bennur, Randhulla Khan-ki-Masjid (1637). Materials of the Ranganatha Temple used.

5. Sirajpur, Masjid built on top of the Chhinnake^ava Temple for housing Prophet Muhammad^s hair.
Images defaced and mutilated. Part of the temple used as a laterine.

XVI. Tumkur District,

1. Sira

(i) Ibrahim Rauza with many Mazars and a Jami^ Masjid. Converted temples.

(ii) Dargah of Malik Rihan. Temple site.

2. Sirol, Jami^ Masjid (1696). Temple site.

KASHMIR

1. Amburher, Ziarat of Farrukhzad Sahib. Temple materials used.

2. Badgam

(i) Ziarat of Abban Shah in Ghagarpur. Temple site.

(ii) Ziarat of Sayyid Swalia Shah in Narbai. Temple site.

3. Bijbehra , Masjid. Temple site.

4. Bumzu

(i) Ziarat of Baba Bamdin. Converted Bhimake^ava. Temple.

(ii) Ziarat of Ruknu^d-Din Rishi. Converted temple.

(iii) Ziarat farther up the valley. Converted temple.

5. Gulmarg, Ziarat of Baba Imam Din Rishi. Temple materials used.

6. Gupkar, Ziarat of Jyesther and other monuments. Temple materials used.

7. Hutmar, Jami^> Masjid. Temple materials used.

8. Khonmuh, Several Ziarats. Temple materials used.

9. Kitshom, Two Masjids. Stand amidst temple ruins.

10. Loduv, Ziarat. Temple materials used.

11. Lohar, Ziarat of Sayyid Chanan Ghazi. Temple site.

12. Lokbavan, Garden Pavilion. Temple materials from Lokabhavana Tirtha used.

13. Marsus, Ziarat of Shah Abdu^Hlah. Temple site.

14. Pampor

(i) Ziarat of Mir Muhammad Hamadani. VishNusvamin Temple materials used.

(ii) Several other Ziarats. Temple materials used.

15. Pandrethan, Masjid. Meruvardhanaswamin Temple materials used.

16. Sangar , Ziarat. Temple materials used.

17. Sar, Ziarat of Khwaja Khizr. Temple materials used.

18. Shalmar Garden , Pavilion on the 4th terrace. Temple materials used.

19. Srinagar, Ancient Hindu city converted into a Muslim capital. The following monuments stand on
temple sites and most of them have been constructed with temple materials.

(i) Ziarat of Bahau^d-Din SAhib. Jayasvamin Temple converted.

(ii) Graveyard and its Gate below the 4th Bridge.

(iii) Dargah and Masjid of Shah-i-Hamadani in Kalashpura. On the site of the Kali Temple.

(iv) Nau or Patthar-ki-Masjid built by Nur Jahan.

(v) Graveyard near the Nau Masjid.

(vi) Ziarat of Malik Sahib in Didd Mar. On the site of Didda Matha.

(vii) Masjid and Madrasa and Graveyard near Vicharnag. On the site and from materials of the
Vikrame^vara Temple.

(viii) Madni Sahib-ki-Masjid at Zadibal.

(ix) Ziarat south-west of Madni Sahib-ki-Masjid.

(x) Jami^ Masjid originally built by Sikandar Butshikan and reconstructed in later times.

(xi) Ziarat named Nur Pirastan. NarendrasaAmin Temple converted.

(xii) Maqbara of Sultan Zain^ul-Abidin.

(xiii) Maqbara of Zainu^M-Abidinas mother, queen of Sikandar Butshikan.

(xiv) Ziarat of Pir Haji Muhammad Sahib, south-west of the Jami^> Masjid. VishNu RaNasvamin Temple
converted.

(xv) Ziarats of Makhdum Sahib and Akhun Mulla on Hari Parbat. Bhimasvamin Temple converted.

(xvi) Masjid of Akhun Mulla built by Dara Shikoh.

(xvii) Ziarat of Pir Muhammad Basur in Khandbavan. On the site of Skandabhavana Vihara.

(xviii) Graveyard north-east of Khandbavan.

(xix) Dargah of Pir Dastgir.

(xx) Dargah of Naqshbandi.

(xxi) Ramparts and Kathi Gate of the Fort built by Akbar.

(xxii) Stone embankments on both sides and for several miles of the Jhelum river as its passes through
Srinagar.

(xxiii) Astana of Mir Shamsu^d-Din Syed Muhammad Iraqi.

20. Sudarbal, Ziarat of Hazrat Bal. Temple site.

21. Tapar, Bund from Naidkhai to Sopor built by Zainu^H-Abidin. Materials from Narendre^vara Temple
used.

22. Theda , Ziarat near Dampor. Temple materials used.

23. Vernag, Stone enclosure built by Jahangir. Temple materials used.

24. Wular Lake

(i) Suna Lanka, pleasure haunt built by Zainu^H-Abidin in the midst of the Lake. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Shukru^d-DIn on the western shore. Temple site.

25. Zukur, Several Ziarats and Maqbaras. Temple materials used.

KERALA

1. Kollam, (Kozhikode District), Jami^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

2. Palghat, Fort built by Tipu Sultan. Temple materials used.

LAKSHADWEEP

1. Kalpeni, Muhiu^d-Din-Palli Masjid. Temple site.

2. Kavarati, Prot-Palli Masjid. Temple site.

MADHYA PRADESH

I. Betul District.

1. Pattan , Dargah of Sulaiman Shah. Temple site.

2. Umri, Dargah of Rahman Shah. Temple site.

II. Bhopal District.

1. Berasia, Masjid (1716). Temple site.

2. Bhopal , Jami^ Masjid built by Qudsia Begum. SabhamaNDala Temple site.

III. Bilaspur District.

Khimlasa

(i) Dargah of Panch Pir. Temple site.

(ii) Nagina Mahal. Temple site.

(iii) Idgah. Temple site.

(iv) Masjid with three domes. Temple site.

IV. Damoh District.

(i) Dargah of Ghazi Mian. Temple site.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

V. Dewas District.

1. Dewas

(i) Masjid (1562). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1705). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid (1707). Temple site.

2. Gandhawal, Graveyard inside the village. Jain Temple materials used.

3. Sarangpur

(i) Madrasa (1493). Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid (1640). Temple site.

(iii) Pir Jan-ki-Bhati Masjid. Temple site.

(iv) Fort. Temple materials used.

4. Unchod, Idgah (1681). Temple site.

VI. Dhar District.

1. Dhar , Capital of Raja Bhoja Paramara converted into a Muslim capital. The following Muslim
monuments tell their own story:

(i) Kamal Maula Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Lat Masjid (1405). Jain Temple materials used.

(iii) Mazar of Abdu^Mlah Shah Changal. Temple site.

2. Mandu , An ancient Hindu city converted into a Muslim capital and the following monuments built on the
sites of and/or with materials from temples

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1454).

(ii) Dilawar Khan-ki-Masjid (1405).

(iii) ChhoTi Jami^ Masjid.

(iv) Pahredaron-ki-Masjid (1417).

(v) Malik Mughis-ki-Masjid.

(vi) Maqbara of Hushang Shah.

(vii) Jahaz Mahal.

(viii) Tawil Mahal.

(ix) Nahar Jharokha.

(x) Hindola Mahal.

(xi) Rupmati Pavilion.

(xii) AshrafT Mahal.

(xiii) Dai-ki-Chhoti Bahen-ka-Mahal.

(xiv) Baz Bahadur-ka-Mahal.

(xv) Nilkanth Mahal.

(xvi) Chhappan Mahal.

(xvii) Fort and Gates.

(xviii) Gada-Shah-ka-Mahal.
(xix) Hammam Complex.

VII. Dholpur District.

Bari , Masjid (1346 or 1351). Temple site.

VIII. East Nimar District.

1. Bhadgaon , Jami^ Masjid (1328). Temple site.

2. Jhiri, Masjid (1581). Temple site.

3. Khandwa, Masjid (1619-20). Temple site.

IX. Guna District.

1. Chanderi , Muslim city built from the ruins of the old or Budhi Chanderi nearby. The following
monuments stand on the sites of temples and/or have temple materials used in them:

(i) Masjid (1392).

(ii) Moti Masjid.

(iii) Jami^ Masjid.

(iv) PanchmuhnDa Masjid.

(v) Qurbani Chabutra.

(vi) Dargah of Mewa Shah.

(vii) Mazar known as BaDa Madrasa.

(viii) Mazar known as ChhoTa Madrasa.

(ix) Raja-ka-Maqbara.

(x) Rani-ka-Maqbara.

(xi) Battisi BaoDi Masjid (1488).

(xii) Hathipur-ki-Masjid (1691).

(xiii) Mazar of Shykh Burhanu^d-Din.

(xiv) Fort.

(xv) Kushk Mahal.

(xvi) Idgah (1495).

2. Pipari , Masjid (1451). Temple site.

3. Shadoragaon , Jami^> Masjid (1621-22). Temple site.

X. Gwalior District.

1. Gwalior

(i) Dargah of Muhammad Ghaus. Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid near Gujari Mahal. Temple site.

(iii) Masjid near Ganesh Gate. Gawalipa Temple site.

(iv) Graveyards on east and west of the Fort. Temple sites.

2. Jajao, Fal Patthar-ki-Masjid, Temple materials used.

3. Mundrail , Several Masjids (1504). Temple sites.

4. Sipri, Several Masjids and Mazars. Temple materials used.

XI. Indore District.

1. Depalpur, Masjid (1670). Temple site.

2. Maheshwar

(i) Shahl Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

3. Mehdipur

(i) Mazar of Godar Shah. Temple site.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

4. Sanwar , Masjid (1674). Temple site.

XII. Mandsaur District.

1. Kayampur

(i) Masjid (1676). Temple site.

(ii) Idgah (1701-02). Temple site.

2. Mandsaur

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

3. Rampura, Padshahi BaoDi. Temple materials used.

XIII. Morena District.

Alapur

(i) Masjid (1561-62). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1586-87). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid (1697-98). Temple site.

XIV. Panna District.

1. Ajaigarh, Fort. Temple materials used.

2. Nachna, Masjid. Converted temple.

XV. Raisen District.

Palmyka Mandir-Masjid. Temple materials used.

XVI. Rajgarh District.

Khujner, Mazar of Dawal Shah. Temple materials used.

XVII. Ratlam District.

Barauda, Masjid (1452-56). Temple site.

XVIII. Sagar District.

1. Dhamoni , Dargah of Bal Jati Shah (1671). Temple site.

2. Kanjia

(i) Khan Sahib-ki-Masjid (1594-95). Temple site.

(ii) Idgah (1640). Temple site.

(iv) Alamgiri Masjid (1703). Temple site.

(iii) Qala-ki-Masjid (1643). Temple site.

3. Khimlasa , Panch Pir. Temple site.

XIX. Sehore District.
Masjid (1332). Temple site.

XX. Shajapur District.
Agartal , Masjid. Temple site.

XXI. Shivpuri District.

1. Narod, Zanzari Masjid. Temple site.

2. Narwar

(i) Dargah of Shah Madar. Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid (1509). Temple materials used.

(iii) Masjid inside Havapaur Gate (1509). Temple site.

3. P away a

(i) Fort. Temple materials used.

(ii) Several other Muslim monuments. Temple materials used.

4. Ranod

(i) Masjid (1331-32). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1441). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid (1633). Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1640). Temple site.

5. Shivpuri , Jami^ Masjid (1440). Temple site.

XXII. Ujjain District.

1. Barnagar, Masjid (1418). Temple site.

2. Ujjain,

(i) Jami^ Masjid known as Bina-niv-ki-Masjid (1403-04). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid unearthed near Chaubis Khamba Gate. Temple materials used.

(iii) Mochl Masjid. Converted temple.

XXIII. Vidisha District.

1. Basoda, Masjid (1720-21). Temple site.

2. Bhonrasa,

(i) Qalandari Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Jagirdar-ki-Masjid (1683). Temple site.

(iii) BaDi Masjid in Bada Bagh (1685). Temple site.

(iv) Bandi Bagh-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(v) Bara-Khamba Masjid. Temple site.

(vi) Ek-Khamba Masjid. Temple site.

(vii) Bina-niv-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(viii) Graveyard in Bandi Bagh. Amidst temple ruins.

(ix) Idgah. Temple site.

(x) Fort (1594). Temple materials used.

3. Parasari, Masjid (1694-95). Temple site.

4. Renkla, Masjid. (1647-48). Temple site.

5. Shamsabad, Masjid (1641). Temple site.

6. Sironj

(i) Alamgiri Masjid (1662-63). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid in Mahalla Rakabganj (1657-58). Temple site.

(iii) DargAh of Shykh Sahib (d. 1657). Temple site.

7. Tal , Masjid (1644-45). Temple site.

8. Udaypur

(i) Masjid (1336). Temple materials used.

(ii) Masjid built by Aurangzeb. Temple materials used.

(iii) Moti Masjid (1488-89). Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1549). Temple site.

(v) Two Masjids of Shah Jahan. Temple sites.

(vi) Masjid of Jahangir. Temple site.

9. Vidisha

(i) Alamgiri or VijaimaNDal Masjid (1682). Converted temple.

(ii) Masjid on Lohangi Hill (1457). Temple site.

(iii) Shah Jahani Masjid (1650-51). Temple site.

(iv) City Wall. Temple materials used,

XXIV. West Nimar District.

1. Asirgarh

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1584). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid built in the reign of Shah Jahan. Temple site.

(iii) Idgah (1588-89). Temple site.

(iv) Fort. Temple materials used.

2. Bhikangaon, Idgah (1643-44). Temple site.

3. Baidia , Masjid (1456-57). Temple site.

4. Burhanpur

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1588-89). Temple site.

(ii) Bibi Sahib-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Shah Mas^ud-ki-Masjid (1582-83). Temple site.

(iv) Dargah and Masjid of Shah Bahatr^d- Din Bajan. Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Sufi Nur Shah. Temple site.

MAHARASHTRA

I. Ahmadnagar District.

1. Amba Jogi, Fort. Temple materials used.

2. Bhingar, Mulla Masjid (1367-68). Temple site.

3. Gogha

(i) Idgah (1395). Temple site.

(ii) Morakhwada Masjid (1630). Temple site.

4. Jambukhed, Jami^> Masjid (1687-88). Temple site.

5. Madhi, Dargah of Ramzan Shah Mahi Sawar. Temple site.

II. Akola District.

1. Akot, Jami^ Masjid (1667). Temple site.

2. Balapur, Masjid (1717-18). Temple site.

3. Basim, Kakt Shah-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

4. Jamod

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Ptr Paulad Shah. Temple site.

5. Karanj

(i) Astan Masjid (1659). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1669-70). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid (1698-99). Temple site.

6. Manglurpir

(i) Qadtmi Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Ptr Hayat Qalandar (d. 1253). Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Sanam Sahib. Temple site.

7. Narnala

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1509). Temple site.

(ii) Alamgiri Masjid. Temple site.

8. Patur, Dargah of Abdul Aziz alias Shykh Babu Chishti (d. 1388). Temple site.

9. Uprai, Dargah of Shah Dawal. Temple site.

III. Amravati District.

1. Amner , Masjid and Mazar of Lai Khan (1691-92). Temple site.

2. Ellichpur

(i) Jami^ Masjid reconstructed in 1697. Temple site.

(ii) Dartr^shifa Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Chowk-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(iv) Idgah. Temple site.

(v) Mazar of Shah Ghulam Husain. Temple site.

(vi) Mazar of Abdul Rahman Ghazi known as Dtilha Shah. Temple site.

3. Ritpur , Aurangzeb^s Jami^ Masjid (reconstructed in 1878). Temple site.

IV. Aurangabad District.

1. Antur Fort, Qala-ki-Masjid (1615). Temple site.

2. Aurangabad

(i) Jami Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Lai Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Maqbara of Aurangzeb. Temple site.

3. Daulatabad

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1315). Converted lain Temple.

(ii) Yak Minar-ki-Masjid in the Fort. Temple site.

(iii) Masjid-i-Hauz at Kazipura (1458). Temple site.

(iv) Idgah (1359). Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Pir Kadu Sahib. Converted temple.

(vi) Fort. Temple materials used.

4. Gangapur, Masjid (1690-91). Temple site.

5. Kaghzipura, Dargah of Shah Nizamu^d-Din. Temple site.

6. Khuldabad

(i) Dargah of Hazrat Burhantr^d-Din Gharib Chishti (d. 1339). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah on Pari-ka-Talao. Converted temple.

(iii) Mazar of Halim Kaka Sahib. Converted temple.

(iv) Mazar of Jalalu^M-Haqq. Temple site.

(v) Baradari in Bani Begum^s Garden. Temple site.

7. Paithan

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1630). Converted temple.

(ii) Maulana Sahib-ki-Masjid. Converted ReNukadevi Temple.

(iii) Alamagiri Masjid. Temple materials used.

(iv) Dargah of Makhdum Husain Ahmad (1507). Temple site.

8. Taltam Fort , Fort. Temple materials used.

9. Vaijapur

(i) Mazars in Nau Ghazi. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Syed Ruknu^d-Din. Temple site.

V. Bid District.

Bid

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Qazi Sahib-ki-Masjid (1624). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid in Mahalla Sadr (1704-05). Temple site.

(iv) Masjid and Dargah of Shahinshah Walt. Temple site.

(v) Idgah (1704). Temple site.

VI. Bombay District.

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar at Mahim. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Maina Hajjam. Converted Mahalakshmi Temple.

VII. Buldana District.

1. Fathkhelda, Masjid (1581). Temple site.

2. Malkapur , Masjid near Qazi^s house. Temple site.

VIII. Dhule District.

1. Bhamer

(i) Masjid (1481-82). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1529-30). Temple site.

2. Erandol, Jami^> Masjid in Pandav-vada. Temple materials used.

3. Nandurbar

(i) Manyar Masjid. Siddhe^varadeva Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Sayyid Alau^d-Din. Temple site.

(iii) Several Masjids amidst ruins of Hindu temples.

4. Nasirabad, Several old Masjids. Temple sites.

5. Nizamabad, Masjid. Temple site.

IX. Jalgaon District.

1. Jalgaon. Masjid. Temple site.

2. Phaskhanda , Masjid. Temple site.

3. Shendurni, Masjid-i-Kabir (1597). Temple site.

X. Kolhapur District.

1. Bhadole, Masjid (1551-52). Temple site.

2. Kagal, Dargah of Ghaibi Pir. Temple site.

3. Kapshi, Masjid-e-Husaini. Temple site.

4. Panhala

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Shykh Saidu^d-DIn. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of BaDa Imam in the Fort. Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Sadoba Pir. Para^ara Temple site.

5. Shirol, Jami Masjid (1696). Temple site.

6. Vishalgarh , Mazar of Malik Rihan Pir. Temple site.

XI. Nagpur District.

Ramtek , Masjid built in Aurangzeb^s reign. Converted temple.

XII. Nanded District.

1. Bhaisa

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Three Dargahs. Temple sites.

2. Deglur, Mazar of Shah Ziau^d-Din Rifai. Temple site.

3. Kandhar

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1606). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid and Dargah inside the Fort. Temple materials used.

(iii) Causeway of the Fort. Temple materials used.

4. Nanded, Idgah in Khas Bagh. Temple site.

XIII. Nasik District.

1. Galna

(i) Dargah of Pir Pulad (1581). Temple site.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

2. Gondengaon , Jami^ Masjid (1703). Temple site.

3. Malegaon, Dargah of Khaki Shah. Temple site.

4. Nasik , Jami^ Masjid in the Fort. Converted Mahalakshmi Temple.

5. Pimpri, Mazar of Sayyid Sadrau^d-Din. Temple site.

6. Rajapur, Masjid (1559). Temple site.

XIV. Osmanabad District.

1. Ausa, Masjid (1680). Temple site.

2. Naldurg , Masjid (1560). Temple site.

3. Parenda

(i) Masjid inside the Fort. Built entirely of temple materials.

(ii) Namazgah near the Talav. Converted Manake^vara Temple.

XV. Parbhani District.

1. Khari, Mazar of Ramzan Shah. Temple site.

2. Latur

(i) Dargah of Mabsu Sahib. Converted Minapuri Mata Temple.

(ii) Dargah of Sayyid Qadiri. Converted Some^vara Temple.

3. Malevir, KhaDu Jami^> Masjid. Converted temple.

XVI. Pune District.

1. Chakan, Masjid (1682). Temple site.

2. Ghoda, Jami^ Masjid. Built in 1586 from materials of 33 temples.

3. Junnar

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple Site.

(ii) Diwan Ahmad-ki-Masjid (1578-79). Temple site.

(iii) GunDi-ki-Masjid (1581). Temple site.

(iv) MadAr Chilla-ki-Masjid. (1611-12). Temple site.

(v) Kamani Masjid on Shivneri Hill (1625). Temple site.

(vi) Fort. Temple materials used.

4. Khed, Masjid and Mazar of Dilawar Khan. Temple site.

5. Mancher, Masjid at the South-Western Gate. Temple site.

6. Sasvad, Masjid. Built entirely of Hemadapanti temple materials.

XVII. Ratnagiri District.

1. Chaul

(i) Mazar of Pir Sayyid Ahmad. Converted Samba Temple.

(ii) Maqbara near Hinglaj Spur. Temple site.

(iii) Graveyard. Temple site.

2. Dabhol, Patthar-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

3. Rajpuri, Aidrusia Khanqah. Temple site.

4. Yeshir, Jami^> Masjid (1524). Temple site.

XVIII. Sangli District.

1. Mangalvedh, Fort. Temple materials used.

2. Mi raj

(i) Masjid (1415-16). Temple site.

(ii) Jami^> Masjid (1506). Temple site.

(iii) Kali Masjid. Temple site.

(iv) Namazgah (1586-97). Temple site.

(v) Dargah of BaDa Imam. Temple site.

XIX. Satara District.

1. Apti, Masjid (1611-12). Temple site.

2. Karad

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1575-76). Temple materials used.

(ii) Qadamagah of Alt (1325). Temple site.

3. Khanpur , Jami^ Masjid (1325). Temple materials used.

4. Rahimatpur,

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Maqbara known as that of Jahangir^s Mother (1649). Temple site.

XX. Sholapur District.

1. Begampur, Maqbara near Gadheshvar. Temple site.

2. Sholapur , Fort, Temple materials used.

XXI. Thane District.

1. Kalyan

(i) Dargah of Hazrat Yaqub, Temple site.

(ii) Makka Masjid (1586). Temple site.

2. Malanggadh, Mazar of Baba MalaNg. Temple site.

XXII. Wardha District.

1. Ashti

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1521). Temple site.

(ii) Lodi Masjid (1671-72). Temple site.

2. Girad, Mazar of Shykh Farid. Converted temple.

3. Paunar, Qadimi Masjid. Converted Ramachandra. Temple.

ORISSA

I. Baleshwar District.

Jami^ Masjid in Mahalla Sunhat (163-74). ^>ri ChanDi Temple site.

II. Cuttack District.

1. Alcungir Hill, Takht-i-Sulaiman Masjid (1719). Temple materials used.

2. Cuttack

(i) Shahi Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Masjids in Oriya Bazar. Temple sites.

(iii) Qadam Rasul Masjid. Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1668-69). Temple site.

(v) Masjid (1690-91). Temple site.

3. Jajpur

(i) DargAh of Sayyid Bukhari. Materials of many temples used.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid built by Nawwab Abu Nasir. Temple materials used.

4. Kendrapara, Masjid. Temple site.

5. Salepur, Masjid. Temple site.

III. Ganjam District.

Lalapet, Masjid (1690). Temple site.

PUNJAB

I. Bhatinda District.

Mazar of Baba Haji Rattan (1593). Converted temple.

II. Gurdaspur District.

Batala, Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

III. Jalandhar District.

Sultanpur, Badshahi Sarai. Built on the site of a Buddhist Vjhara.

IV. Ludhiana District.

(i) Dargah and Masjid of Alt Sarmast (1570). Temple site.

(ii) Qazi-ki-Masjid (1517). Temple site.

V. Patiala District.

1. Bahadurgarh, Masjid in the Fort (1666). Temple site.

2. Bawal, Masjid (1560). Temple site.

3. Samana

(i) Sayyidon-ki-Masjid (1495). Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid (1614-15). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid near Imambara (1637). Temple site.

(iv) Pirzada-ki-Masjid (1647). Temple site.

VI. Ropar District.

Jami^> Masjid. Temple site.

VII. Sangrur District.

Sunam

(i) Qadimi Masjid (1414). Temple site.

(ii) Ganj-i-Shahidan. Temple site.

RAJASTHAN

I. Ajmer District.

It was a Hindu capital converted into a Muslim metropolis. The following monuments stand on the site of
and/or are built with materials from temples.

1. ADhai-Din-kA-Jhonpra (1199).

2. Qalandar Masjid at Taragarh.

3. Ganj-i-Shahidan at Taragarh.

4. Dargah of Muinu^d-Din Chisti (d. 1236).

5. Chilia-i-Chishti near Annasagar Lake.

6. Dargah and Mazar of Sayijid Husain at Taragah.

7. Jahangiri Mahal at Pushkar.

8. Shahjahani Masjid (1637).

9. Annasagar Baradari.

II. Alwar District.

1. Alwar , Mazar of Makhdum Shah. Temple site.

2. Bahror

(i) Dargah of Qadir Khan. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid near the Dargah. Temple site.

3. Tijara

(i) Bhartari Mazar. Converted temple.

(ii) Masjid near the Dargah. Temple site.

III. Bharatpur District.

1. Barambad, Masjid (1652-53). Temple site.

2. Bari

(i) Graveyard of Arabs and Pathans. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1510). Temple site.

3. Bay ana

(i) Ukha or Nohara Masjid. Converted Usha Temple.

(ii) Qazipara Masjid (1305). Temple materials used.

(iii) Faujdarf Masjid. Temple materials used.

(iv) Syyidpara Masjid. Temple materials used.

(v) Muffonki Masjid. Temple materials used.

(vi) Pillared Cloister at Jhalar Baoli. Temple materials used.

(vii) Idgah near Jhalar Baoli. Temple site.

(viii) Taleti Masjid in the Bijayagarh Fort. Converted temple.

(ix) Abu Qandahar Graveyard. Temple site.

(x) Masjid in Bhitari-Bahari Mahalla. VishNu Temple materials used.

4. Etmada, Pirastan. Temple site.

5. Kaman

(i) Chaurasi Khamba Masjid. Converted Kamyakesvara Temple.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

IV. Chittaurgarh District.

1. Mazar of Ghaibi Pir and the surrounding Graveyard. Temple sites.

2. Qanati Masjid in the same area. Temple site.

V. Jaipur District.

1. Amber, Jami^ Masjid (1569-70). Temple site.

2. Chatsu

(i) Chhatri of Gurg Alt Shah (d. 1571). Temple materials used.

(ii) Nilgaron-ki-Masjid (1381). Temple site.

3. Dausa, Jami^> Masjid (1688-89). Temple site.

4. Naraina

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1444). Temple materials used.

(ii) Tripolia Darwaza. Temple materials used.

5. Sambhar

(i) Ganj-i-Shahidan. Temple site.

(ii) DargAh of Khwaja Hisamtr^d-Din Jigarsukhta. Temple site.

(iii) Masjid in Mahalla Nakhas (1695-96). Temple site.

(iv) Masjid in Rambagh (1696-97). Temple site.

4. Tordi, Khari Baoli. Temple materials used.

VI. Jaisalmer District.

1. Jaisalmer, Faqiron-ka-Takiya. Temple site.

2. Pokaran, Masjid (1704-05). Temple site.

VII. Jalor District.

1. Jalor

(i) Shahi or Topkhana Masjid (1323). Par^vanatha Temple materials used.

(ii) Idgah (1318). Temple site.

(iii) Baoliwali Masjid (1523). Temple site.

2. Sanchor, Jami^ Masjid (1506). Temple site.

VIII. Ihalawar District.

Sunel, Masjid (1466-67). Temple site.

IX. Ihunjhunu District.

Narhad, Jami^> Masjid. Temple materials used.

X. Jodhpur District.

1. Jodhpur, Yak-Minar-ki-Masjid (1649). Temple site.

2. Mandor

(i) Shahi Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Ghulam Khan-ki-Masjid. Temple materials used.

(iii) Dargah of Tanna Pir. Temple materials used.

3. Pipar City, Jami^ Masjid (1658). Temple, site.

XI. Kota District.

1. Baran, Masjid (1680). Temple site.

2. Bundi, Miran Masjid on the hill east of the town. Temple site.

3. Gagraun

(i) Jami^> Masjid (1694). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Hazrat Hamidu^d-Din known as Mittha Shah. Temple site.

4. Shahabad

(i) Sher Shah Suri-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid. (1671-72). Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Rahim Khan Data (1534-35). Temple site.

5. Shergarh , Fort of Sher Shah Suri. Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain temple materials used.

XII. Nagaur District.

1. Amarpur, Masjid (1655). Temple site.

2. Bakalia, Masjid (1670). Temple site.

3. Balapir, Masjid. Temple site.

4. Badi Khatu

(i) Shahi Masjid (around 1200). Temple materials used.

(ii) Qanati Masjid (1301). Temple site.

(iii) Pahariyon-ki-Masjid and Chheh Shahid Mazars. Temple materials used.

(iv) Jaliyabas-ki-Masjid (1320). Temple site.

(v) BaDi and ChhoTi Masjid in Mahalla Sayiddan. Temple site.

(vi) Khanzadon-ki-Masjid (1482). Temple site.

(vii) Masjid and Dargah of Muhammad Qattal Shahid (1333). Temple materials used,
(viii) Dhobiyon-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ix) Masjid-i-Sangatrashan (1639). Temple site.

(x) Dargah of Baba Ishaq Maghribi (1360). Temple site.

(xi) Dargah of Samman Shah. Temple sites.

(xii) Ganj-i-Shahidan. Temple site.

(Xiii) Mominon-ki-Masjid (1667). Temple site.

(xiv) Fort. Temple materials used.

4. Basni, BaDi Masjid (1696). Temple site.

5. Chhoti Khatu , Dargah of Shah Nizam Bukhari (1670). Temple site.

6. Didwana

(i) Qazion-ki-Masjid (1252). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid in Gudri Bazar (1357). Temple site.

(iii) Band (closed) Masjid (1384). Temple site.

(iv) Shaikon-ki-Masjid (1377). Temple site.

(v) Jami^> Masjid. Temple site.

(vi) Qala-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(vii) Havala Masjid. Temple site.

(viii) Sayyidon-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ix) Takiya-ki-Masjid (1582-83). Temple site.

(x) Kachahri Masjid (1638). Temple site.

(xi) Dhobion-ki-Masjid (1662).

(xii) Julahon-ki-Masjid (1664). Temple site.

(xiii) Loharon-ki-Masjid (1665). Temple site.

(xiv) Bisatiyon-ki-Masjid (1675-76). Temple site.

(xv) Mochion-ki-Masjid (1686). Temple site

(xvi) Shah Changi Madari Masjid (1711). Temple site.

(xvii) Idgah. Temple site.

(xviii) Graveyard near Delhi Darwaza. Temple site.

(xix) Din Darwaza (1681). Temple site.

(xx) Mazar of Rashidir^d-Din Shahid. Temple site.

7. Kathoti, Masjid (1569-70). Temple site.

8. Kumhari

(i) Masjid and Dargah of Bala Pir (1496-97). Temple site.

(ii) Qalandari Masjid. Temple site.

9. Ladnun

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1371). Temple materials used.

(ii) Hazirawali or Khalji Masjid (1378-79). Temple site.

(iii) Shahi Masjid. Temple materials used.

(iv) Dargah of Umrao Shahid Ghazi (1371). Temple site.

(v) Graveyard near the above Dargah. Temple site.

(vi) Mazar-i-Murad-i-Shahid. Temple site.

10. Loharpura

(i) Dargah of Pir Zahiru^d-Din. Temple site.

(ii) ChhoTi Masjid (1602). Temple site.

11. Makrana

(i) Jami^ Masjid. (Sher Shah). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid near Pahar Kunwa (1653). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid in Gaur Bas (1678). Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1643). Temple site.

12. Merta

(i) Masjid in Salawtan (1625-26). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid in Gaditan (1656). Temple site.

(iii) Jami^> Masjid. (1665). Temple site.

(iv) Mochiyon-ki-Masjid (1663). Temple site.

(v) Ghosiyon-ki-Masjid (1665). Temple site.

(vi) Mominon-ki-Masjid (1666). Temple site.

(vii) Masjid in Maharaj-ki-Jagir (1666). Temple site
(viii) Chowk-ki-Masjid (1670). Temple site.

(ix) Hajjamon-ki-Masjid (1686-87). Temple site.

(x) Miyanji-ki-Masjid (1690-91). Temple site.

(xi) Sabungaron-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(xii) Dargah of Ghaus Pir. Temple site.

(xiii) Takiya Kamal Shah. Temple site.

13. Nagaur

(i) Mazar of Pir Zahiru^d-Din. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Baba Badr. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Sufi Hamidtr^d-Din Nagauri Chishti. Temple site.

(iv) Dargah of Shykh Abdul Qadir Jilani. Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Makhdum Husain Nagauri. Temple site.

(vi) Dargah of Ahmad Ali Bapji. Temple site.

(vii) Dargah of Sayyid Imam Nur (1527). Temple site.

(viii) Dargah of Shah Abdtr^s-Salam. Temple site.

(xi) Dargah of Miran Sahib. Temple site.

(xii) Shams Khan Masjid near Shamsi Talav. Temple materials used,
(xiii) Jami^ Masjid (1553). Temple site.

(xiv) Ek Minar-ki-Masjid (1505-06). Temple site.

(xv) Dhobiyon-ki-Masjid (1552). Temple site.

(xvi) Chowk-ki-Masjid (1553). Temple site.

(xvii) Mahawaton-ki-Masjid (1567-68). Tempe site.

(xviii) Hamalon-ki-Masjid (1599-1600). Temple site.

(xix) Shah Jahani Masjid at Surajpole. Converted temple.

(xx) Masjid outside the Fort (1664). Temple site.

(xxi) Kharadiyon-ki-Masjid(1665). Temple site
(xxii) Ghosiyon-ki-Masjid (1677). Temple site.

(xxiii) Masjid near Maya Bazar (1677). Temple site.

(xxiv) Qalandron-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(xxv) Kanehri Julahon-ki-Masjid (1669). Temple site.

(xxvi) Sayyidon-ki-Masjid (1433-34). Temple site.

(xxvii) AkhaDewali Masjid (1475). Temple site.

14. Parbatsar, Mazar of Badrir^d-Din Shah Madar. Temple site.

15. Ren , Masjid (1685). Temple site.

16. Rohal, Qazioyn-ki-Masjid (1684). Temple site.

17. Sojat, Masjid (1680-81). Temple site.

XIII. Sawai Madhopur District.

1. Garh, Qala-ki-Masjid (1546-47). Temple site.

2. Hinduan

(i) Rangrezon-ki-Masjid (1439). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid in the Takiya of Khwaja Alt. Temple site.

(iii) Kachahrf Masjid (1659-60). Temple site.

(iv) Bara Khamba Masjid (1665). Temple site.

(v) Graveyard east of the Talav. Temple site.

(vi) Masjid and Mazar of Rasul Shah. Temple site.

3. Ranthambor , Qala-ki-Masjid. Temple materials used.

XIV. Sikar District.

Revasa, Masjid. Temple materials used.

XV. Tonk District.

Nagar, Ishakhan Baoli. Temple materials used.

XVI. Udaipur District.

Mandalgarh , Alai Masjid. Converted Jain Temple.

TAMIL NADU

I. Chingleput District.

1. Acharwak, Mazar of Shah Ahmad. Temple site.

2. Kanchipuram

(i) Large Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Eight other Masjids. Temple sites.

(iii) Gumbad of Baba Hamid Walt. Temple site.

3. Karkatpala, Mazar of Murad Shah Mastan. Temple site.

4. Kovalam , Dargah of Malik bin Dinar (1593-94). Temple site.

5. Munropet

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Shah Alt Mastan. Temple site.

6. Pallavaram

(i) Hill of Panchapandyamalai renamed Maula Pahad and central hall of an ancient Cave Temple turned
into a Masjid for worshipping a panja (palm).

(ii) Mazar of Shykh Husain Qadiri alias Budu Shahid. Temple site.

(iii) Poonmalle, Mir .1 umiaks Masjid (1653). Temple materials used.

7. Rajkoilpetta, Mazar of Haji Umar. Temple site.

8. Rampur, Takiya of the Tabqati order of Faqirs. Temple site.

9. Rayapeta, Walajahi Masjid. Temple site.

10. Walajahbad, Masjid. Temple site.

II. Coimbatore District.

1. Annamalai, Fort. Repaired by Tipu Sultan with temple materials.

2. Coimbatore, Large Masjid of Tipu Sultan. Temple site.

3. Sivasamudram, DargAh of Pir Walt. Temple site.

III. Madras District.

Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

IV. Madura District.

1. Bonduvarapetta, Masjid. Temple materials used.

2. Devipatnam, Large Masjid. Temple site.

3. Goripalaiyam, Dargah of Khwaja Alau^d-Din. Temple site.

4. Madura, Dargah of Khwaza Alau^d-Din. Temple site.

5. Nimarpalli

(i) Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Makhdum Jalaltr^d-Din. Temple materials used.

6. Puliygulam, Masjid. Temple site.

7. Soravandam, Masjid. Temple site.

8. Tiruparankunram, Sikandar Masjid on top of the Hill. Stands admist ruins of Brahmanical, Buddhist and
Jain temples.

V. North Arcot District.

1. Arcot, A city of temples before its occupation by Muslims.

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Tomb of Sadatu^Hlah Khan. Atreya Temple materials used.

(iii) Masjid and Mazar of Tipu Awliya. Temple site.

(iv) Dargah of Sayyid Husain Shah. Temple site.

(v) Qala-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(vi) Masjid of Shah Husain Chishti. Temple site.

(vii) Masjid and Gumbad of Papa Shahid. Temple site.

(viii) Gumbad of Shah Sadiq with a graveyard. Temple site.

(ix) Masjid and Mazar of Shah Azmatu^llah Qadiri. Temple site.

(x) Masjid of Shykh Natthar. Temple site.

(xi) Masjid of Murad Shah. Temple site.

(xii) Masjid of Mir Asadu^Mlah Khan. Temple site.

(xiii) Masjid of Maulawi Jamal All. Temple site.

(xiv) Masjid and Gumbad of Sayyid Ahmad alias Yar Pir. Temple site.

(xv) Masjid of Chanda Sahib. Temple site.

(xvi) Masjid of Miskin Shah with Gumbad of Amin Pir. Temple site.

(xvii) Masjid and Mazar of Hazrat Usman Khan Sarwar. Temple site.

(xviii) Masjid in the Maqbara of Mughlani. Temple site.

(xix) Masjid of GhulAm Rasul Khan. Temple site.

(xx) Masjid of Shah Ghulam Husain Dargahi. Temple site.

(xxi) Masjid of Hafiz Abdul Aziz. Temple site.

(xxii) Masjid of Hafiz Karimu^Hlah. Temple site.

(xxiii) Masjid and Gumbad in Tajpura. Temple site. Outside the city
(xxiv) Takiya of Qatil Pandu Sarguroh. Temple site.

(xxv) Masjid and Gumbad of Ahmad Tahir Khan. Temple site.

(xxvi) Masjid, Khanqah, Graveyard and Gumbad in Hasanpura. Temple site.

(xxvii) Gumbad of Hazrat Antar Jami with the Idgah. Temple site.

(xxviii) Takiya, of Sabit Ali Shah. Temple site.

(xxix) Masjid and Mazar of Sayyid Karim Muhammad. Qadiri. Temple site.

(xxx) Masjid of Sa^datmand Khan. Temple site.

(xxxi) Masjid of Abu^M-Hasan Zakir. Temple site.

(xxxii) Masjid of Da^ud Beg. Temple site.

(xxxiii) Masjid and Gumbad of Hazrat Shah Nasir. Temple site.

(xxxiv) Masjid of Punji. Temple site.

(xxxv) Mazar of Yadu^Hlah Shah. Temple site.

(xxxvi) Rangin Masjid. Temple site.

(xxxvii) House of Relic which has a footprint of the Holy Prophet. Converted temple.

2. Ami

(i) Two Masjids. Temple sites.

(ii) Dargah of Seven Shahids. Temple site.

3. Kare, Naulakh Gumbad. Converted Gautama and Vi^vamitra. Temple

4. Kaveripak

(i) Idgah. Temple site.

(ii) Takiya. Temple site.

(iii) Three Masjids. Temple sites.

5. Nusratgarh, Many Masjids and Mazars in the ruined Fort. Temple sites.

6. Pirmalipak, Mazar of Wajid Shah Champar Posh. Temple site.

7. Ramna

(i) Masjid of Kamtu Shah. Temple site.

(ii) Takiya of Shah Sadiq Tabqati. Temple site.

8. Vellore

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) ChhoTi Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Nur Muhammad Qadiri who ^Haid wasted many temples. Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Shah Abu^M-Hasan Qadiri.

(v) Mazar of Abdul Latif Zauqi. Temple site.

(vi) Mazar of Ali Husaini Chishti. Temple site.

(vii) Mazar of Hazrat Ali Sultan. Temple site.

(viii) Mazar of Amin Pir. Temple site.

(ix) Mazar of Shah Lutfu^Hlah Qadiri. Temple site.

(x) Mazar of Sahib Padshah Qadiri. Temple site.

9. Walajahnagar , Masjid and Mazar of Pir Sahib on the Hill. Temple site.

10. Wali-Muhammad-Petta, Masjid. Temple site.

VI. Ramanathapuram District.

1. Eruvadi

(i) Dargah of Hazrat Ibrahim Shahid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Hazrat Fakhru^d-Din Shahid alias Katbaba Sahib. Temple site.

2. Kilakari

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Muhammad Qasim Appa. Temple site.

(iii) Apparpalli Masjid. Temple site.

3. Periyapattanam, Dargah of Sayyid Sultan Wali. Temple site.

4. Valinokkam

(i) Pallivasal Masjid (1417-18). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Katupalli (1425). Temple site.

5. Ramanathapuram , Old Masjid. Temple site.

VII. Salem District.

Sankaridurg , Masjid on the ascent to the Fort. Temple site.

VIII. South Arcot District.

1. Anandapur , Masjid. Temple site.

2. Chidambaram

(i) Lalkhan Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Nawal Khan Masjid. Temple materials used.

(iii) Idgah. Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Aminu^d-Din Chishti. Temple site.

(v) Mazar of Sayyid Husain. Temple site.

3. Gingee

(i) Masjid (1718). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1732). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid in the Fort. Temple site.

4. Kawripet, Mazar of Qalandar Shah. Temple site.

5. Manjakupham, Mazar of Shah Abdtr^r-Rahim. Temple site.

6. Mansurpeta, Itibar Khan-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

7. Nallikuppam

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Shykh Miran Sahib. Temple site.

8. Pannuti

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Gumbad of Nur Muhammad Qadiri. Temple site.

9. Swamiwaram, Masjid. Temple site.

10. Tarakambari

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Shykh Ismail Sahib. Temple site.

11. Tirumalarayanapatnam, Mazar of Abdul Qadir Yamini. Temple site.

12. Wcirachkuri , Mazar of Shah Jalal Husaini. Temple site.

IX. Thanjavur District.

1. Ammapettah

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Muinir^d-Din Husain Qadiri. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Shah Jafar. Temple site.

2. Ilyur

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Inayatu^llah Dirwesh. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Muhammad Mastan. Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Miran Husain. Temple site.

3. Karambari

(i) Mazar of Arab Sahib. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Mubtala Shah. Temple site.

4. Kurikyalpalayam

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Makhdum Haji. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Makhdum Jahan Shah. Temple site.

5. Kurkuti, Gumbad of Hasan Qadiri alias Ghyb Sahib. Temple site.

6. Kushalpalayam

(i) Mazar of Hazrat Taj Firaq Badanshahi. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Hidayat Shah Arzani. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Yar Shah Husainshahi. Temple site.

7. Nagur

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Qadir Walt Shah. Temple site.

8. Urancheri, Mazar of Pir Qutbu^d-Din. Temple site.

9. Vijayapuram, GumbaD of Sultan Makhdum. Temple site.

10. Wadayarkari , MazAr of Bawa SAhib Shahid. Temple site.

X. Tiruchirapalli District.

1. Puttur, Mazar. Temple materials used.

2. Tiruchirapalli

(i) Dargah of NatThar Shah Walt. Converted ^>iva Temple. Lingam used as lamp-post.

(ii) Masjid-i-Muhammadi. Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Baba Muhiu^d-Din Sarmast. Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Hazrat Fathu^Hlah Nuri. Temple site.

(v) Mazar of Shams Paran. Temple site.

(vi) Mazar of Sayyid Abdul Wahhab. Temple site.

(vii) Mazar of Shah FazIu^Hlah Qadiri. Temple site.

(viii) Mazar of Shah Nasirtr^d-Din. Temple site.

(ix) Mazar of Faridir^d-Din Shahid. Temple site.

(x) Mazar of Hazrat Chand Mastan. Temple site.

(xi) Mazar of Sayyid Zainu^M-Abidin at Tinur. Temple site.

(xii) Mazar of Sayyid Karimu^d-Din Qadiri. Temple site.

(xiii) Mazar of Alimu^Mlah Shah Qadiri called Barhana Shamsir (Naked Sword). Temple site.

(xiv) Mazar of Shah Imamu^d-Din Qadiri. Temple site.

(xv) Mazar of Kaki- Shah. Temple site.

(xvi) Mazar of Khwaja Amintr^d-Din Chisti. Temple site.

(xvii) Mazar of Khwaja Ahmad Shah Husain Chishti. Temple site.

(xviii) Mazar of Shah Bheka. Converted temple.

(xix) Mazar of Shah Jamalu^d-Din Husain Chishti. Temple site.

(xx) Mazar of Qayim Shah who destroyed twelve temples. Temple site.

(xxi) Mazar of Munsif Shah Suhrawardiyya. Temple site.

(xxii) Mazar of Itiffaq Shah. Temple site.

(xxiii) Mazar of Sayyid Jalal Qadiri. Temple site.

(xxiv) Mazar of Mahtab Shah Shirazi Suhrawardiyya. Temple site.

(xxv) Masjid of Haji Ibrahim where NaTThar Shah Wali (see i above) stayed on his arrival. Temple site.
3. Valikondapuram

(i) Masjid opposite the Fort. Converted temple.

(ii) Mazar near the Masjid. Converted temple.

(iii) Sher Khan-ki-Masjid (1690). Temple site.

(iv) Old Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

XI. Tirunelvelli District.

1. Ambasamudram, Mazar of Hazrat Rahmtu^Mlah near the ruined Fort. Temple site.

2. Kayalpattanam

(i) Periyapalli Masjid (1336-37).

(ii) Sirupalli Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Nainar Muhammad. Temple site.

(iv) Marukudiyarapalli Masjid. Temple site.

3. Tirunelvelli , Jami^> Masjid. Temple materials used.

UTTAR PRADESH

I. Agra District.

1. Agra

(i) Kalan Masjid in Saban Katra (1521). Temple materials used.

(ii) Humayun-ki-Masjid at Kachhpura (1537-38). Temple site.

(iii) Jami^ Masjid of Jahanara (1644). Temple site.

(iv) Dargah of Kamal Khan Shahid in Dehra Bagh. Temple material uses.

(v) Riverside part of the Fort of Akbar. Jain Temple sites.

(vi) Chini ka Rauza. Temple site.

2. Bisauli, Masjid (1667-68). Temple site.

3. Fatehpur Sikri

(i) Anbiya Walt Masjid and several others in Nagar. Converted temples.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

(iii) Dargah of Shykh Salim Chishti. Temple site.

(iv) Fatehpur Sikri Complex. Several temple sites.

4. Firozabad, Qadim Masjid. Temple site.

5. Jajau , Masjid. Temple site.

6. Rasulpur, Mazar of Makhdum Shah. Temple site.

7. Sikandra

(i) Maqbara of Akbar. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid in the Mission Compound. Temple site.

II. Aligarh District

1. Aligarh

(i) Idgah (1562-63). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Shykh Jalalu^d-Din Chishti Shamsul-Arifin. Temple site.

(iii) Graveyard with several Mazars. Temple site.

(iv) Shershahi Masjid (1542). Temple site.

(v) Masjid (1676). Temple site.

2. Pilkhana, Babari or Jami^ Masjid (1528-29). Temple: materials used.

3. Sikandara Rao , Jami^ Masjid (1585). Temple site.

III. Allahabad District.

1. Allahabad

(i) Fort of Akbar. Temple sites.

(ii) Khusru Bagh. Temple sites.

(iii) Dargah of Shah Ajmal Khan with a Graveyard. Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1641-22). Temple site.

(v) Gulabbari Graveyard. Temple site.

2. Koh Inam , Jami Masjid (1384). Temple site.

3. Mauiina, Qadim Masjid. Temple site.

4. Shahbazpur, Masjid (1644-45). Temple site.

IV. Azamgarh District.

1. Dohrighat, Kalan Masjid. Temple site.

2. Ganjahar , Masjid (1687-88). Temple site.

3. Mehnagar , Tomb of Daulat or Abhiman. Temple site.

4. Nizambad

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Mian Maqbul and Husain Khan Shahid (1562). Temple sites.

5. Qasba, Humayun^s Jami ^ Masjid (1533-34). Temple site.

V. Badaun District.

1. Alapur , Alamgiri Masjid. Temple materials used.

2. Badaun

(i) Shamsi or Jami^> Masjid (1233). Temple materials used.

(ii) Shamsi Idgah (1209). Temple materials used.

(iii) Hauz-i-Shamsi (1203). Temple materials used.

(iv) Dargah of Shah Wilayat (1390). Temple site.

(v) Several other Masjids and Mazars. Temple sites.

3. Sahiswan, Jami^> Masjid (1300). Temple site.

4. Ujhani , Abdullah Khan-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

VI. Bahraich District.

DargAh of Salar Mas^Kid Ghazi. Suryadeva Temple site.

VII. Ballia District.

Kharid

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Ruknu^d-Din Shah. Temple site.

VIII. Banda District.

1. Augasi , Masjid (1581-82). Temple site.

2. Badausa, Masjid (1692). Temple site.

3. Kalinjar

(i) Masjid in Patthar Mahalla (1412-13). Converted Lakshmi-NarayaNa Temple.

(ii) Masjid (1660-61). Temple site.

(iii) Several other Masjids and Mazars. Temple sites.

4. Sown, Dargah of Shykh Jamal. Temple site.

IX. Bara Banki District.

1. Bhado Sarai, Mazar of Malamat Shah. Temple site.

2. Dewa

(i) Dargah of Haji Waris Alt Shah. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1665). Temple site.

3. Fatehpur

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Imambara. Temple site.

4. Radauli

(i) Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Shah Ahmad and Zuhra Bibi. Temple site.

5. Rauza Gaon, Rauza of Da^ud Shah. Temple site.

6. Sarai-Akbarabad, Masjid (1579-80). Temple site.

7. Satrikh, Dargah of Salar Sahu Ghazi. Temple site.

X. Bareilly District.

1. Aonla

(i) Begum-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Maqbara of Alt Muhammad Rohilla. Temple site.

2. Bareilly, Mirzai Masjid (1579-80). Temple site.

3. Faridpur, Fort built by Shykh Farid. Temple materials used.

XI. Bijnor District.

1. Barmih-ka-Khera, Masjid. Temple materials used.

2. Jahanabad, Maqbara of Nawab Shuja^at Khan. Temple site.

3. Kiratpur, Fort with a Masjid inside. Temple materials used.

4. Mandawar, Jami^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

5. Najibabad, Patthargarh Fort. Temple materials used.

6. Nihtaur, Masjid. Temple site.

7. Seohara, Masjid. Temple site.

XII. Bulandshahar District.

1. Aurangabad Sayyid, All Masjids stand on temple sites.

2. Bulandshahar

(i) Dargah. Temple site.

(ii) Fort. Materials of many temples used.

(iii) Idgah. Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1311). Temple site.

(v) Masjid (1538). Temple site.

(vi) Masjid (1557). Temple site.

3. Khurja, Mazar of Makhdum Sahib. Temple site.

4. Shikarpur, Several Masjids built in Sikandar Lodi^s reign. Temple sites.

5. Sikandarabad, Several Masjids built in Sikandar Lodi^> a reign. Temple sites.

XIII. Etah District.

1. Atranjikhera, Mazar of Hazrat Husain (or Hasan). Temple site.

2. Jalesar

(i) Mazar of Miran Sayyid Ibrahim (1555). Temple site.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

3. Kasganj, Jami^ Masjid (1737-38). Temple site.

4. Marahra, Masjid and Mazar. Temple site.

5. Sakit

(i) Qadim Masjid (1285). Temple materials used.

(ii) Akbari Masjid (1563). Temple site.

XIV. Etawah District.

1. Auraiya, Two Masjids. Temple sites.

2. Etawah, I ami ^ Masjid. Converted temple.

3. Phaphund, Masjid and Mazar of Shah Bukhari (d. 1549). Temple site.

XV. Farrukhabad District.

1. Farrukhabad, Several Masjids. Temple materials used.

2. Kannauj

(i) Dina or Jami4> Masjid (1406). Sita-ki-Rasoi. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Makhdum Jahanian. Temple materials used.

(iii) Dargah of Baba Haji Pir. Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1663-64). Temple site.

(v) Dargah of Bala Pir. Temple site.

3. Rajgirhar, Mazar of Shykh Akhi Jamshed. Temple site.

4. Shamsabad, All Masjids and Mazars. Temple sites.

XVI. Fatehpur District.

1. Haswa, Idgah (1650-51). Temple site.

2. Hathgaon

(i) Jayachandi Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Burhan Shahid. Temple site.

3. Kora (Jahanabad)

(i) Daraah of Khwaja Karrak. Temple site.

(ii) Jami^> Masjid (1688-89). Temple site.

4. Kot, Ladin-ki-Masjid (built in 1198-99, reconstructed in 1296). Temple site.

XVII. Fyzabad District.

1. Akbarpur

(i) Qala-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1660-61). Temple site.

2. Ayodhya

(i) Babari Masjid. RAma-Janmabhumi Temple site.

(ii) Masjid built by Aurangzeb. Swargadvara Temple site.

(iii) Masjid built by Aurangzeb. Treta-ka-Thakur Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Shah Juran Ghuri. Temple site.

(v) Mazars of Sir Paighambar and Ayub Paighambar near Maniparvat. On the site of a Buddhist Temple
which contained footmarks of the Buddha.

3. Fyzabad, Imambara. Temple site.

4. Flatila, Mazar of a Ghazi. A^okanatha Mahadeva. Temple site.

5. Kichauchha, Dargah of Makhdum Ashraf in nearby Rasulpur. Temple site.

XVIII. Ghazipur District.

1. Bhitri

(i) Masjid and Mazar. Temple materials used.

(ii) Idgah. Temple site.

(iii) Bridge below the Idgah. Buddhist Temple materials used.

2. Ghazipur

(i) Mazar and Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Chahal Situn Palace. Temple site.

3. Flingtar

(i) Qala-ki-Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

4. Khagrol, Bara Khamba or Dargah of Shykh Ambar. Temple site.

5. Saidpur, Two Dargahs. Converted Buddhist Temples.

XIX. Gonda District.

Sahet-Mahet ( &ravasti)

(i) Maqbara. On the plinth of Sobhnath Jain Temple.

(ii) Mazar of Miran Sayyid. On the ruins a Buddhist Vihara.

(iii) Imli Darwaza. Temple materials used.

(iv) Karbala Darwaza. Temple materials used.

XX. Gorakhpur District.

1. Gorakhpur, Imambara. Temple site.

2. Lar, Several Masjids. Temple sites.

3. Pava, Karbala. On the ruins of a Buddhist Stupa.

XXI. Hamirpur District

1. Mahoba

(i) Masjid outside Bhainsa Darwaza of the Fort (1322). Converted temple.

(ii) Masjid built on a part of the Palace of Parmardideva on the Hill. Temple materials used.

(iii) Two Maqbaras. Temple materials used.

(iv) Dargah of Pir Muhammad Shah. Converted Siva temple.

(v) Dargah of MubArak Shah and Graveyard nearby. Contain no less than 310 pillar from demolished
temples.

2. Rath, Two Maqbaras. Temple materials used.

XXII. Hardoi District.

1. Bilgram

(i) Sayyidon-ki-Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Jami^> Masjid (1438). Temple materials used.

(iii) Several other Masjids and Dargahs. Temple materials used.

2. Gopamau, Several Masjids. Temple sites.

3. Pihani

(i) Abdul Gafur-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Sadr-i-Jahan (1647-48). Temple site.

4. Sandila

(i) Qadim Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Mazar in Barah Khamba. Temple site.

XXIII. Jalaun District.

1. Kalpi

(i) Chaurasi Gumbad complex of tombs. Many temple sites.

(ii) Dargah of Shah Abdul Fath Alai Quraishi (1449). Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Shah Babu Haji Samad (1529). Temple site.

(iv) DeoDhi or Jami^> Masjid (1554). Temple site.

2. Katra, Masjid (1649). Temple site.

XXIV. Jaunpur District.

1. Jaunpur

(i) Atala Masjid (1408). Atala Devi Temple materials used.

(ii) Dariba Masjid. Vijayachandra^s Temple materials used.

(iii) Jhanjari Masjid. Jayachandra^s Temple materials used.

(iv) Lai Darwaza Masjid. Temple materials from the Vi ^vc^ vara Temple at Varanasi used.

(v) HammAm Darwaza Masjid (1567-68). Temple materials used.

(vi) Ibrahim Barbak-ki-Masjid inside the Fort (1360). Temple materials used.

(vii) Jami^> Masjid. Patala Devi Temple site.

(viii) Fort. Temple materials used.

(ix) Akbari Bridge on the Gomati. Temple materials used.

(x) Khalis Mukhlis or Char Anguli Masjid. Temple site.

(xi) Khan Jahan-ki-Masjid (1364). Temple site.

(xii) Rauza of Shah Firuz. Temple site.

2. Machhlishahar

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Karbala. Temple site.

(iii) Sixteen other Masjids. Temple sites.

3. Shahganj , Dargah of Shah Hazrat Ali. Temple site.

4. Zafarabad

(i) Masjid and Dargah of Makhdum Shah (1311 or 1321). Temple materials used.

(ii) Ibrahim Barbak-ki-Masjid. Converted temple.

(iii) Zafar Khan-ki-Masjid (1397). Converted temple.

(iv) Ganj-i-Shahidan. Temple materials used.

(v) Fort. Temple materials used.

(vi) Early Sharqi buildings including many Maqbaras. Temple materials used.

(vii) Dargah of Asaru^d-Din. Temple materials used.

XXV. Jhansi District.

1. Irich, Jami^ Masjid (1412). Temple materials used.

2. Lalitpur, Basa Masjid (1358). Materials of four temples used.

3. Talbhat

(i) Masjid (1405). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Pir Taj Baj. Temple site.

XXVI. Kanpur District.

1. Jajmau

(i) Dargah of Alau^d-Dm Makhdum Shah (1360). Temple site.

(ii) Idgah (1307). Temple site.

(iii) Qala-ki-Masjid. Temple site.

(iv) Jami^ Masjid (renovated in 1682). Temple site.

2. Makanpur, Mazar of Shah Madar. Converted temple.

XXVII. Lucknow District.

1. Kakori , Jhanjhari Rauza of Makhdum Nizamir^d-Din. Temple materials used.

2. Lucknow

(i) Tilewali. Masjid Temple site.

(ii) Asafu^d-Daula Imambara. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Shah Muhammad Pir on Lakshmana Tila renamed Pir Muhammad Hill. Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Shykh Ibrahim Chishti Rahmatullah. Temple materials used.

(v) Nadan Mahal or Maqbara of Shykh Abdtr^r-Rahim. Temple site.

(vi) Machchi Bhavan. Temple sites.

3. Musanagar, Masjid (1662-63). Temple site.

4. Nimsar, Fort. Temple materials used.

5. Rasulpur , Masjid (1690-91). Temple site.

XXVIII. Mainpuri District.

Rapri

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Idgah (1312). Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Pir Faddu. Temple site.

XXIX. Mathura District.

1. Mahaban, Assi Khamba Masjid. Converted temple.

2. Mathura

(i) Idgah on the Katra Mound. Ke^vadeva. Temple site.

(ii) Jami^ Masjid built by Abdtr^n-nabi (1662). Temple materials used.

(iii) Mazar of Shykh Farid. Temple materials used.

(iv) Mazar of Makhdum Shah Wilayat at Sami Ghat. Temple materials used.

3. Naujhil, Dargah of Makhdum Shykh Saheti Sahib. Temple materials used.

XXX. Meerut District.

1. Barnawa, Humayun^s Masjid (1538-39). Temple site.

2. Garhmuktesar, Masjid (1283). Temple site.

3. Hapur, Jami^> Masjid (1670-71). Temple site.

4. Jalali, Jami^ Masjid (1266-67). Temple materials used.

5. Meerut

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Stands on the mins of a Buddhist Vihara.

(ii) Dargah at Nauchandi. Nauchandi Devi Temple site.

6. Phalauda, Dargah of Qutb Shah. Temple site.

XXXI. Mirzapur District.

1. Bhuli, Masjid in Dakhni Tola. Temple site.

2. Chunar

(i) Mazar of Shah Qasim Sulaiman. Temple site.

(ii) Fort. Temple materials used.

3. Mirzapur, Several Masjids. Temple sites.

XXXII. Moradabad District.

1. Amroha

(i) Jami^> Masjid. Converted temple.

(ii) Dargah and Masjid of Shykh Saddu. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Shykh Wilayat. Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1557-58). Temple site.

(v) Many other Masjids. Temple sites.

2. Azampur, Masjid (1555-56). Temple site.

3. Bachhraon, Several Masjids. Temple sites.

4. Moradabad, Jami^> Masjid (1630). Temple site.

5. Mughalpura-Agwanpur, Masjid (1695-96). Temple site.

6. Sirsi, Qadimi Masjid. Temple site.

7. Ujhari, Mazar of Shykh Da^Kid. Temple site.

8. Sambhal

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Converted VishNu Temple.

(ii) Masjid in Sarai Tarim (1503). Temple site.

(iii) Mazar of Mian Hatim Sambhali. Temple site.

(iv) Mazar of Shykh Panju. Temple site.

XXXIII. Muzaffarnagar District.

1. Daira Din Panah, Mazar of Sayyid Din Panah. Temple site.

2. Ghausgah, Fort and Masjid. Temple materials used.

3. Jhinjhana

(i) Dargah (1495). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid and Mazar of Shah Abdul Razzaq (1623). Temple site.

4. Kairana

(i) Dargah. Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1551). Temple site.

(iii) Masjid (1553-54). Temple site.

(iv) Masjid (1617-18). Temple site.

(v) Masjid (1630-31). Temple site.

(vi) Masjid (1651-52). Temple site.

5. Majhera, Masjid and Mazar of Umar Nur. Temple site.

6. Sambhalhera, Two Masjids (1631-32). Temple site.

7. Thana Bhawan, Masjid (1702-03). Temple site.

XXXIV. Pilibhit District.

Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

XXXV. Pratapgarh District.

Manikpur, Many Masjids and Mazars. On the mins of demolished temples.

XXXVI. Rampur District.

Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

XXXVII. Rae Bareli District.

1. Datmau

(i) Idgah (1357-58). Temple site.

(ii) Fort. On the mins of Buddhist Stupas.

(iii) Masjid (1616). Temple site.

2. Jais

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple materials used.

(ii) Masjid (1674-75). Temple site.

3. Rae Bareli

(i) Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

(ii) Jahan Khan Masjid. Temple site.

(iii) Dargah of Makhdum Sayyid Jafari. Temple site.

(iv) Fort. Temple materials used.

XXXVIII. Saharanpur District.

1. Ambahata

(i) Masjid (1533-34). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1534-35). Temple site.

2. Deoband

(i) Masjid (1510). Temple site.

(ii) Masjid (1557). Temple site.

(iii) Jami^> Masjid (1677-78). Temple site.

3. Gangoh

(i) Mazar of Shykh Abdul Quddus. Temple site.

(ii) Three Masjids. Temple sites.

4. Jaurasi, Masjid (1675-76). Temple site.

5. Kaliyar, Dargah of Shykh Alau^d-Din Alt bin Ahmad Sabri, a disciple of Baba Farid Shakar Ganj of
Pak Pattan. Temple site.

6. Manglaur

(i) Masjid (1285). Temple site.

(ii) Dargah of Shah Wilayat. Temple site.

7. Rampur, Mazar of Shykh Ibrahim. Temple site.

8. Saharanpur, Jami^ Masjid. Temple site.

9. Sakrauda, Dargah of Shah Ruknu^d-Din or Shah Nachchan. Temple site.

10. Sirsawa, Mazar of Pir Kilkili Shah. On top of temples destroyed.

XXXIX. Shahjahanpur District.

1. Kursi, Masjid (1652). Temple site.

2. Shahjahanpur, Bahadur Khan-ki-Masjid (1647). Temple site.

XL. Sitapur District.

1. Biswan, Masjid (1637-38). Temple site.

2. Khairabad, Several Masjids. Temple sites.

3. Laharpur, Mazar of Shykh Abdir^r-Rahman. Temple site.

XLI. Sultanpur District.

1. Amethi, Mazar of Shykh Abdul Hasan. Temple site.

2. Isuli

(i) Jami^ Masjid (1646-47). Temple site.

(ii) Mazar of Sayyid Ashraf Jahangir Simnani. Temple site.

XLII. Unao District.

1. Bangarmau

(i) BaDi Dargah of Alau^d-Din Ghanaun (1320). Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Jalalu^d-DIn (d. 1302). Temple site.

(iii) ChhoTi Dargah (1374). Temple site.

(iv) Jami^ Masjid (1384). Temple site.

2. Rasulabad, Alamgiri Masjid. Temple site.

3. Safipur

(i) Dargah of Shah Shaft. Temple materials used.

(ii) Dargah of Qudratu^Mlah. Temple materials used.

(iii) Dargah of Fahimu^Mlah. Temple materials used.

(iv) Dargah of Hafiztr^llah. Temple materials used.

(v) Dargah of Abdu^Hlah. Temple materials used.

(vi) Fourteen Masjids. Temple sites.

XLIII. Varanasi District.

1. Asia, Shah Jahani Masjid. Temple site.

2. Varanasi

(i) Masjid at Gyanavapi. Vi vara Temple material used.

(ii) Masjid at Panchaganga Ghat. KinTavi^ve^vara Temple materials used.

(iii) Masjid and Dargah of Sayyid Fakhru^d-Din Sahib Alvi (1375) Temple site.

(iv) Bindu Madhava Masjid (1669). Converted Bindu-Madhava Temple.

(v) Masjid and Mazar at Bakariya Kund. Temple materials used.

(vi) ADhai Kangra-ki-Masjid in Adampura. Temple site.

(vii) Darhara Masjid. Temple site.

(viii) Mazar of Lai Khan at Rajghat. Temple site.

Footnotes:

1 The word ^Hindu^ in the present context stands for all schools of Sanatana Dharma-
Buddhism, Jainism, Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and the rest.

- History ofAurangzeb, Calcutta, 1925-52.

- Religious Policy of the Mughal Emperors, Bombay, 1962.

- Advice tendered to this author by Dilip Padgaonkar, editor of The Times of India, in the context
of quoting correct history. Small wonder that he has converted this prestigious daily into a

platform for communist politicians masquerading as historians. ^Perhaps you want, ^ wrote a
reader, ^>to invest them with some kind of academic glory by using the legend of JNU, but their

best introduction, intellectually speaking, is that they are Stalinist historians^ Their ideological
brothers in the press make sure, through selective reporting and publishing, that their views are
properly advertised. The Times of India, too, is in this rank; its editorials, leading articles, special
reports-all breathe venom, not just against Ram Janmabhumi but any Hindu viewpoint. Anything

in sympathy with this viewpoint is conscientiously kept out^ (The Times of India, November 11,
1989, Letters).

- Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report 1925-26. Pp. 129-30.

-Ibid., p. 129.

L Ibid., p. 128.

-Ibid., 1907-08, p. 113.

-Ibid., Pp. 114.

— Ibid., p. 114-15. Technical details have been omitted and emphasis added.

-Ibid.,p. 116.
n Ibid., p. 120.
n Ibid., p. 126.

-Ibid., p. 61.

— Ibid., 1907-08, Pp. 47, to 72.

-Ibid., 1903-04, p. 86.

-Ibid., 1902-3, p. 52.

-Ibid., 1921-22, p. 83.

— Ibid., p. 84.

-Ibid., 1902-03, p. 56.

-Ibid., 1933-34, Pp. 36-37.

-Ibid., 1902-03, Pp. 16-17.

2:1 Ibid., 1993-4, Pp. 31-32.

-Ibid., 1902-03, Pp. 17-18.

25 Ibid, 1903-04, p. 43.

-Ibid., p. 63.

21 Ibid., 1904-05, p. 24.

-Ibid., 1929-30, p. 29.

29 Ibid, 1928-29, Pp. 167-68.

— Robert Sewell, A Forgotten Empire, New Delhi Reprint, 1962, Pp. 199-200.

— Archaeological Survey of India, Volume I: Four Reports Made During the Years 1862-63-64-
65, Varanasi Reprint, 1972, Pp. 440-41.

— Ratan Pribhdas Hingorani, Sites Index to A.S.I. Circle ReporfsNew Delhi 1978, Pp. 17-262.

— A decision to this effect was taken by the Archaeological Survey of India soon after
independence, ostensibly under guidelines laid down by an international conference.

— S.A.A. Rizvi, History of Sufism in India, Volume 1, New Delhi, 1978, P. 189.

— Ghulam Abdul Qadir Nazir, Bahr-i- z.am or Travels of &A zam Shah Nawwab Walajah,
1823, Madras, 1960, p. 128.

— Ibid., p. 64.

— Ibid., p. 128.

— Dates given in brackets refer to the Christian era.

Appendix

Using the Babari Masjid-Ramajanmabhumi controversy as a pretext, Muslim mobs went on a rampage all
over Bangladesh. They attacked and burnt down Hindu houses and business establishments in many places,
murdered some Hindus and inflicted injuries on many others. Hindu temples and monasteries invited their
special attention everywhere.

Starting on October 29, 1989, the mob fury reached its climax on November 9 and 10 after the Shilanyas
ceremony at Ayodhya. Many temples were demolished or burnt down or damaged in various ways. Images
of deities were broken and thrown out. Temple priests were beaten up.

The Government of Bangladesh kept on looking the other way for almost two weeks. Then it called off the
operation. It also ordered repairs to a dozen temples in order to maintain the pretence that what had been
done was not a command performance.

We reproduce below a report received by us.

INCIDENTS OF COMMUNAL REPRESSION IN BANGLADESH

Occurred on the Pretext of Babri-Masjid / Ram-Mandir
Situation in India

(Translated from original in Bengali published by the Hindu, Buddhist and Christian Unity Council, 53,

Tejturi Bazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh)

District: Narsingdi

1. On November 11, 1989: The 400-year-old historic Kali-Temple at Chinishpur was looted and set on fire.

2. On the same day the Shiv-Temple of Brahmanadi was looted and set on fire.

3. On the same day the Kali-Temple of Bhelanagar was looted and set on fire.

4. In the market place of Bhelanagar near Narsingdi town a good number of shops were looted, broken in,
and some of the houses were set on fire on the same day.

5. In the town of Narsingdi, the Bhagbat Ashram was attacked on the same day.

6. The Kali-Temple of Narsingdi town was attacked with arms on the same day (11-11-89).

7. On the 8th of November 1989, the Milan Kali-Temple of Srirampur Bazar in the Raipur Upajila was
attacked and the image of the deity broken up.

8. On the same day the Raipur Bazar Temple was attacked and the image of the deity broken up.

9. On the same day at the village of Hashimpur under Raipur Upajila many houses were attacked, looted,
and set on fire.

District: Tangail

10. On November 10 and 11, 1989, in the town of Tangail several temples were attacked and set on fire,
and many shops were looted.

11. In the village of Bajitpur hear Tangail many houses belonging to the religious minorities were attacked,
looted, and set on fire, and the temples and the images of the deities were broken up.

12. The temple in the village of Pakrail under Delduar Upajila was attacked, and acts of breaking up and
setting on fire were carried out.

13. In several other villages under Delduar Union the temples were set on fire.

14. One temple in the village of Pakutia in Tangail was attacked, set on fire and destroyed.

15. House-to-house attacks were made on the traditional makers of handloom sarees belonging to the
members of religious minorities in the village of Bajitpur, and their handlooms were destroyed.

16. In the village of Akua in Tangail a temple was destroyed and its foundations removed.

17. A similar incident took place in the village of Kalihati.

18. Mr. Dinesh Ch. Basak, deputy chief medical officer of the Meghna Textile Mills, under Bangladesh
Textile Industry Corporation, died on November 10 in Tongi. The Mill authorities sent his body to Tangail
for cremation, and there a group of miscreants attacked the car carrying the dead body. They also
obstructed carrying out of the cremation.

District: Moulavi Bazar

19. On November 10, 1989, in the District of Moulavi Bazar, at Srimangal Upajila several temples
including Ramkrishna Mission, Mangaleswari Kali-Bari, Durga-Bari, Jagannath Dev^s Akhra, and
Kalachand Mandir were attacked, broken in, and set on fire. At present no temple exists at Srimangal.

20. On November 10, 1989, the Ramkrishna Mission in the city of Moulavi Bazar was attacked and burnt
down.

21. On the same day several Hindu houses and shops in the Srimangal Upajila were attacked, structurally
damaged and looted. This happened in front of the officers responsible for law and order.

District: Naogaon

22. On November 10, 1989, several temples in the city of Naogaon were attacked and structurally
damaged.

23. Fear and panic spread in the Hindu villages near the city of Naogaon and many villagers went into
hiding for fear of life and prosecution.

District: Sirajganj

24. On November 11, 1989, at dusk, attackers as a large group emerged from a mosque at Chanyaikona in
Upajila Raigarh with agitating slogans, and they attacked many nearby shops and residential places.

District: Rangpur

25. On November 10, 1989, Friday at 4 pm in the city of Rangpur a huge group in a procession shouting
slogans with excitement went on attacking places of worships belonging to the minority communities.

26. On the same day, the famous Rangpur Dharma Shava building at the Station Road was attacked and
severely damaged.

27. The main Kali Temple in Rangpur known as Sri Sri Karunamoyee Kali-Bari was attacked.

28. Sri Sri Anandamoyee Ashram at College Road was attacked and massively damaged.

District: Netrokona

29. The Kali-Mandir at Bara Bazar in the city of Netrokona was attacked, looted, structurally damaged and
set on fire.

District: Magura

30. In Magura Sadar Upajila, Bagia Union, at Bagia Thakur-Bari at the performance of Puja in the
Jagadhatri Temple on November 6, 1989, armed attacks were made and, Ranjit Roy and Jagadish Roy were
killed, and the image of the deity was broken up and thrown away. Seriously wounded Samar Roy had to
be transferred to a Hospital for Disabled in Dhaka.

District: Barishal

31. On November 15 in the city of Barishal the temple of Chandan Nagar Para was attacked, broken up and
set on fire.

32. On November 2, 1989 in the village of Dhamura in Uzirpur Upajila a Kali Temple was attacked by an
armed group under Haji Mobashar Uddin at 8 pm, the image of the deity was broken up and thrown away
and the temple was set on fire.

33. On November 17, the Hindu Hostel under B.M. College was attacked and students were
indiscriminately beaten up and forced out of the Hostel.

34. On November 13, at the Sadar Betagi Upajila, temples were broken in and shops belonging to Hindu
community were looted. In Agoyeeljhara, the Kali-Mandir was destroyed and the image of the deity
disappeared.

District: Chittagong

35. On November 10, in the city of Chittagong, procession took place shouting communal slogans.

36. In Raujan Upajila at the Jagatpur Ashram attacks were made.

37. At the historic Kaibalyadham Ashram in Chittagong attacks were made.

38. At the villages of Sadhanpur and Lankarchar in Patia Upajila some 25 temples were attacked and set on
fire and the images of the deities in these temples were broken. Many houses and shops belonging to the
members of minority communities were attacked and looted.

39. In the villages of Uttar Satta and Fate Nagar in Raujan Upajila, and in Nanupur, Baktapur, S. Rosong
Giri and Ajadi Bazar under Fatikchar Upajila several temples were attacked.

40. On October 29 and 31, in the village of Unainagar Patia Upajila on the Chittagong-Kox^s Bazar
Highway, a bus was stopped and the Buddhist and Hindu passengers were beaten up. In many Buddhist
temples the statues of Buddha were broken up.

41. Under Rajaun Upajila in the village of Gujra on October 29 and November 9, the Jalakumari House,
Radha-Gobinda Ashram and other temples were attacked and set on fire repeatedly.

42. The Kali Temple of Bashkhali Upajila was attacked.

43. On November 10, in the region called Patenga Kath-Ghar many Hindu families abandoned their homes
for fear of communal persecution. In the city of Sandwip the images of the deities in the Jagannath-Bari,
Kali-Bari, and Char-Ani Shidheswari Kali-Bari were broken up and scattered.

District: Kox^s Bazar

44. Many temples in the various Upajilas of Kox^s Bazar were attacked.

District: Noakhali

45. In the city of Hatia several temples were attacked. In Bazra under Begumganj Upajila the Hari-Mandir
was destroyed.

District: Jamalpur

46. The temple at Basakpara in the city of Jamalpur was destroyed.

District: Chadpur

47. On November 10, at the Purana Bazar area in the city of Chadpur many shops and businesses and many
temples in the suburb of Chadpur were attacked. The temple of Raja Lakshmi-Narayan in Habiganj has
been destroyed.

District: Nilfamari

48. In Saidpur area many temples have been attacked and severely damaged.

District: Jhalakati

49. On November 9, in the city of Jhalakati almost all temples and the houses and shops belonging to the
members of the minority communities were attacked.

50. The living quarters and a temple belonging to the famous folk poet (Charan Kabi) Mukunda Das was
attacked and broken up.

District: Narayanganj

51. On November 10, the Ramakrishna Mission and several shops belonging to the members of the
minority communities were attacked.

District: Dhaka

52. Several temples in Dhamrai and Savar were attacked. On November 10, at night, the Dhaka
Ramakrishna Mission was attacked. In Demra an ancient cremation structure has been destroyed. In Lal-
bag police station in Nagar-Bel-Tali Rishi-Para several shops and businesses were attacked, looted and
structurally damaged.

District: Laksmipur

53. On November 14, 1989, in the Union of Charbadam, Char Alexander, Char Algi and Hajarihat under
Ramgati Upajila of Laksmipur District, some 36 houses, shops and businesses belonging to the minority
communities wore attacked, looted and set on fire, and women were raped and rendered destitute. Besides
these, some 11 temples were attacked and destroyed by setting on fire including the temple of Rama-
Thakur and Ashram of Burakarta.

District: Sylhet

54. The historic Akhra of Mahaprabhu in Chhatak was attacked and the statue of the Mahaprabhu was
broken and damages were done to the Akhra.

District: Khulna

55. On November 17, 1989 in the city of Khulna. Dharma-Shava Temple, Koylaghat Kalibari, Barabazar
Kalibari, and many other temples were attacked and set on fire. At the corner of Barabazar and Picture
Palace all shops and businesses belonging to the Hindu community were looted. In the localities inhabited
by many Hindus including Tutpara, Baniakhamar and Banargati, armed attacks were made and acts of
looting, breaking-in and setting-on-fire were carried out.

District: Bagerhat

56. On November 17, 1989, the entire temple complex at the Ramakrishna Mission in Bagerhat including
Hari-Mandir was attacked and structures and the statue of Ramakrishna were broken up. Besides these
attacks, acts of destruction were carried out on Fatepur Kalibari, Bemta Kali-Temple Giletala Hari and Kali
temples, Karapara Kali Temple, and Patarpara Kali-Temple, and a famous black-stone Siva-Linga was
looted.

District: Maimensing

57. Hindu houses in the vicinity of the Zamidar-bari of Muktagachha were attacked with arms and looted
and acts of breaking-up were carried out.

District: Feni

58. On November 9, in the Union of Radhanagar, and on November 14 in the Union of Dhalia, under
Chhagal-Naiya Upajila, temples were attacked and acts of breaking-up were carried out.

59. In the village of Char Sonapur under Sonagachhi Upajila, a temple was attacked and acts of breaking-
up carried out on November 12. In the villages of Desherhat and Semerkhil several temple statutes were
broken up.

60. The image of Goddess Kali in the village of Hirapur in Daganbhuia Upajila was broken up.

61. In the village of Daulatpur under Feni police station the image of Goddess Kali was broken up.

62. The image of Goddess Kali in the temple of Dakshineswari at Shubhapur Bazar in Chhagal-Naiya, was
broken up and the place was looted and set on fire.

District: Bhola

63. On November 17, in the city of Bhola, several shops belonging to the religious minorities were attacked
and money was collected through threats of violence.

District: Comilla

64. On November 11 at Muradpur, under Sadar Upajila, a temple was destroyed. In the village of Ramaganj
a similar incident happened.

65. On November 11, at the festival of Rama-Thakur in the city of Comilla, attacks were made using stones
and bricks and several people were injured.

66. On November 12, a Kali-Temple in the village of Gahin-khali under Barmbara Upajila was set on fire.
Under Muradnagar Upajila at Ramachandrapur Bazar, a temple was totally destroyed.

District: Brahmanbaria

67. In the villages of Shyamgram and Srigram under Nabinagar Upajila several temples were attacked.

District: Madaripur

68. On November 11, the Hari-Temple of Puranabazar in the city of Madaripur was broken up and a
procession against the religious minorities was taken out.

69. The Dhamusa^s Ashram of Kalkini was broken up.

District: Munshiganj

70. The Kali-Temple at Baligaon was broken up.

District: Manikganj

71. In Saduria Upajila at Saduria itself and in the village of Buriara temples were attacked and acts of
breaking-up were committed.

District: Pabna

72. Temples and shops and businesses in the city of Pabna wore attacked and looted.

District: Habiganj

73. Several temples in the District of Habiganj were attacked.

HINDU TEMPLES

WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM

Volume II

The Islamic Evidence
(Second Enlarged Edition)

SITA RAM GOEL

VOICE OF INDIA
NEW DELHI

Contents

Preface

Section I

THE TIP OF AN ICEBERG

1. The Dispute at Sidhpur

2. The Story of Rudramahalaya

3. Muslim Response to Hindu Protection

Section II

SUPPRESSIO VERISUGGESTIO FAWI

4. The Marxist Historians

5. Spreading the Big Lie

Section III

FROM THE HORSE^S MOUTH

6. The Epigraphic Evidence

7. The Literary Evidence

8. Summing up

Section IY

ISLAMIC THEOLOGY OF ICONOCLASM

9. Theology of Monotheism

10. The Pre-Islamic Arabs

11. Religion of Pagan Arabia

12. Monotheism Spreads to Arabia

13. Meaning of Monotheism

14. The Bible Appears in Arabic

15. Muhammad and the Meccans

16. The Prophet Destroys Pagan Temples

Section V

APPENDICES

1. Muslim Dynasties in Indians History

2. Was the Ka^ba a ^iva Temple?

3. Meaning of the Word ^ Hindu^

4. Questionnaire for the Marxist Professors 408

Bibliography

PREFACE

A court order in 1986 threw open for Hindu worship the gates of the temple-turned-mosque at the
Ramajanmabhumi at Ayodhya. Hindus were overjoyed, and started looking forward to the coming up of a
grand Rama Mandir at the sacred site. But they were counting without the stalwarts of Secularism in the

Nehruvian establishment. It was not long before a hysterical cry was heard ^ ^Secularism in danger!^

The Marxist-Muslim combine launched a two-pronged campaign. On the one hand, they proclaimed that
Muslims had destroyed no Hindu temples except those few which were stinking with hoarded wealth or
had become centres of local rebellions, and that Islam as a religion was never involved in iconoclasm. On
the other hand, they accused the Hindus of destroying any number of Buddhist, Jain and Animist shrines in
the pre-Islamic days.

As a student of Indians history, ancient as well as medieval, I could see quite clearly that they were
playing the Goebbelsian game of the Big Lie. But they could not be countered because they had come to
dominate the academia and control the mass media during the heyday of the Nehru dynasty. Most of the
prestigious press was owned by Hindu moneybags. But they had placed their papers in the hands of the
most brazen-faced Hindu-baiters.

The most unkindest cut of all, however, came from the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata
Party. They were doing nothing towards debunking Secularist lies about Hinduism vis-a-vis Buddhism and
Jainism. But they were trumpeting from the house-tops that Islam did not permit the destruction of other

people^s places of worship, and that namaz offered in a mosque built on the site of a temple was not
acceptable to Allah! They were laying the blame for the destruction of the Ram Mandir not on Islam as an
ideology of terror but on Babur as a foreign invader!

The only ray of light in this encircling gloom was Arun Shourie, the veteran journalist and the chief editor
of the Indian express at that time. On February 5, 1989, he frontpaged an article. Hideaway Communalism,
showing that while the Urdu version of a book by Maulana Hakim Sayid Abdul Hai of the Nadwatul-
Ulama at Lucknow had admitted that seven famous mosques had been built on the sites of Hindu temples,

the English translation published by the Maulana^s son, Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi (Ali Mian) had eschewed

the ^controversial evidenced. He also published in the Indian Express three articles written by me on the
subject of Islamic iconoclasm. This was a very courageous defiance of the ban imposed by Islam and
administered by Secularism, namely, that crimes committed by Islam cannot even be whispered in private,
not to speak of being proclaimed in public.

Finally, VOICE OF INDIA published in April, 1991 Volume I of a projected series - Hindu Temples: What
Happened to Them. It was a collection of relevant articles by Arun Shourie, Harsh Narain, Jay Dubashi,
Ram Swarup, and myself. An important part of the volume was a list of 2000 Muslim monuments built on
the sites and/or with the materials of Hindu temples. This list became famous all over the country as soon
as it came out.

Meanwhile, the evidence I had collected regarding Islamic iconoclasm could already cover several, and
much bigger volumes. VOICE OF INDIA published in May, 1991 Volume II of the series. It was devoted
exclusively to Islamic evidence, historical as well theological. It was received very well, particularly by the
world of scholarship. Only the prestigious newspapers and periodicals in this country ignored it completely;

they did not even acknowledge it in their iBooks Received^ column. But an extensive review written by
the Belgian scholar, Koenraad Elst, was published by VOICE OF INDIA in 1992 under the
title Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam.

This second edition of Volume II is a thoroughly revised and somewhat enlarged version of the first
edition. Its main merit is that the lengthy chapters in the earlier edition have been divided into smaller ones,

and placed under several well-defined sections. A new Appendix on the meaning of the word ^Hindu^

has been added. And the Appendix which carries the Questionnaire For the Marxist Professors, has been
considerably expanded by inclusion of correspondence between myself and Professor Romila Thapar, the
doyen of Marxist historians.

I take this opportunity to point out that the subject of this volume is not so much the destruction of Hindu
temples as the character of Islam - an imperialist ideology of terrorism and genocide masquerading as a
religion, in fact, as the only true religion. It is high time for Hindus to see Islam not with its own eyes but
from the viewpoint of the great spiritual vision which is their inheritance.

New Delhi

SITA RAM GOEL

25 March 1993

CHAPTER ONE
THE DISPUTE AT SIDHPUR

The Fourth Annual Report of the Minorities^ Commission
submitted to the President of India through the Ministry of Home
Affairs on April 19, 1983, carries an account of a dispute over the

Jami^> Masjid at Sidhpur in the Mehsana District of Gujarat. The
account raises some significant questions about certain aspects of
Islam as a religion and the character of Muslim rule in medieval
India. We have to go to primary source materials in order to find
satisfactory answers to these questions.

Sidhpur is a Taluka town, sixty-four miles north of Ahmadabad. It
is situated on the left bank of the river Saraswati, fifteen miles
upstream of ANhilwaD PaTan, the old capital of Gujarat before
Ahmadabad was founded in the first quarter of the fifteenth

century. ^In a part of the town,^> says the Commission's

Report, ^is located what is known as Rudramahalaya complex.
This complex was built by Siddhraj Jayasimha in the 12th
century^ This temple seems to have been destroyed partly by
Ulugh Khan in AD 1297-98 and partly by Ahmedshah in AD
1415. Some of the cubicles and a number of pillars on the Western
side of the temple it would appear were later converted into a

mosque.^ 1

At the dawn of independence in 1947, Sidhpur was in the territory

of Baroda, the princely state ruled by the Maratha house of the
GaekwaDs. ^The princely state of Baroda,^ proceeds the

Report, ^had treated the complex consisting of the mosque and
the remnants of the temple as a monument of historical
importance. Subsequently, by virtue of an agreement between the
Trustees and the Archaeological Survey of India on 31st March,
1954, the mosque was declared as a national monument and its
maintenance and protection were taken over by the Archaeological
Survey of India. One of the terms of this agreement was that the
mosque would continue to be used by the Muslims for offering

prayers

The Trustees of the Jami^> Masjid, however, became dissatisfied
with the Archaeological Survey which, they complained, was not
doing its duty towards maintenance of the mosque.

^►Subsequently,^ continues the Report, ^a dispute arose
between the Trustees of the mosque and the officials of the
Archaeological Department with regard to the maintenance of the
mosque as according to the Trustees, necessary repairs to the
mosque were not being carried out by the Archaeological
Department and the mosque was in danger of falling down. These
disputes led to some litigation in the High Court which, however,
ended in a compromise. An undertaking was given by the
Archaeological Department in terms of the compromise that they
would carry out the necessary repairs to the mosque. It is alleged
that the undertaking was not given effect to and this resulted in
further litigation which again ended in a compromise. Under the
fresh compromise terms, the Archaeological Department again
gave an undertaking to carry out the repairs of the mosque and
also to lay out a garden in the courtyard of the mosque.
Unfortunately, this compromise again did not bring about a final
settlement between the Trustees of the mosque and the
Archaeological Department. According to the Muslims, the
Archaeological Survey of India, instead of carrying out repairs to
the mosque, started digging operations which exposed the relics of
the temples and also the rich sculptural carvings on the two wings
of the mosque. These exposures appear to have attracted the
attention of the Hindus and they demanded that not only should
these ancient temple relics be preserved but that the mosque
should also no longer be used by the Muslims for offering prayers
or they may also be allowed to worship the Siva Linga discovered

during the excavations within the premises of the mosque.^

The Minorities^ Commission came into the picture on October 4,

1979 when it received a letter from the Trustees of the mosque,
^►conveying the apprehensions of the Muslims of Sidhpur that the
Hindus were trying to usurp the Jama Masjid.^ 4 The letter from

the Trustees reported: ^On the 6th September, 1979, one
Yogeshwar Dutt had illegally led a huge crowd into the mosque
and instigated them to usurp it. He again entered the mosque on
2nd October, 1979 and demanded that Namaz in the Jama Masjid
should be stopped and also incited the Hindus to demolish the

mosque.^ The Commission referred the matter to the Director
General of the Archaeological Survey of India and called for a
report.

But before the Commission could receive a reply from the Survey,
^Begum Ayesha Sheikh, MLA, of the Gujarat Assembly wrote to

the Chairman, Minorities^ Commission about the threats to
which the local Muslims were being continually subjected by the
majority community and especially the Jan Sangh and the RSS
elements for their use of the Jama Masjid and that this had created

a serious communal tension in the town.4> The Commission
wrote to the Government of Gujarat on December 7, 1979 and
asked for a factual report. ^On 16th January, 1980,^ says the

Commissioners Report, Government of Gujarat denied any
RSS hand in the demand of the local Hindus for conversion of the
Jama Masjid at Sidhpur into a temple as alleged. The State
Government further reported that the dispute between the Muslims
and the Hindus about the use of the Jama Masjid had been going
on for quite some time past and that the local police and State
Government were aware of the situation. They also assured the
Commission that there was no possibility of any communal trouble

at Sidhpur. -

A Hindu-Muslim riot, however, broke out at Sidhpur on March 14,

1980 and took some toll of limbs and property. ^TThc critical

stage,^ records the Commission, ^was reached on 14th March,
1980, when a group of Hindus led by a local Sadhu started
Bhajans at the Rudramahalaya. At about 10.00 A.M. a group of
boys started closing shops and people started coming towards the
Rudramahalaya. Everything was peaceful till the Muslims started

assembling for their Namaz around 1.00 P.M. By 1.15 P.M. both
Bhajans and Namaz were going on simultaneously. According to
reports, some Muslims from the houses adjoining the
Rudramahalaya started throwing stones on the Hindus. The Hindus
retaliated. By this time about 800 to 900 Hindus and about 300 to
400 Muslims had collected. The police, anticipating trouble, was
on the spot along with the Taluka Magistrate. They burst teargas
shells to disperse the crowd. The Muslims who had to pass
through Hindu localities before reaching their houses, were stoned
by the Hindus from housetops and lanes. Six shops were forced
open and looted. Two of them belonged to the Hindus. The jeep of
the Mamalatdar was also burnt and the Mamalatdar himself also
sustained some minor injuries due to the stone throwing. In all 72
persons sustained injuries during the incident on the 14th March,
1980. The situation was brought under control by 2.15 P.m.

Curfew was immediately imposed and the situation at Sidhpur

. 8

remained peaceful for some time barring some minor incidents. V

Begum Ayesha Sheikh again wrote to the Commission on March
28, 1980, reporting the communal trouble that had broken out on

March 14. ^>She also mentioned that the State Government had
been deliberately trying to play down the gravity of the incident
and, therefore, any report submitted by the State Government
would not be fair and impartial. She, therefore, requested that
instead of asking for a report from the State Government the

Minorities^ Commission itself should undertake an on-the-spot
inquiry into the incidents.

But before the Commission could decide what to do, another
round of Hindu-Muslim riots took place at Sidhpur on April 8,

1980. ^However again on the 8th April, 1980,^ records the

Commission, ^at about 11.45 A.M. one Muslim was assaulted by
three Hindus as a result of which two Hindus were stabbed by the
Muslims. Incidents of assault took place thereafter in different
parts of the town. Curfew was imposed on the 8th April, 1980, and

42 persons were arrested.^ 11 On April 14, ^nine important
Muslim representatives including one Member of Parliament met
the Chairman and handed over a memorandum on the dispute and

requested the Commission to visit Sidhpur.^—

The Commission, however, could not visit Sidhpur without prior
consultation with the Government of Gujarat. By that time the

State had been placed under Governor's rule. It had neither an
elected Assembly nor a popular Ministry. Shri K.T. Satarawala,
Adviser to the Governor of Gujarat, came to New Delhi on May 1,
1980 and met the Chairman of the Commission. After a discussion
on the prevailing communal situation at Sidhpur, it was agreed that

the Adviser would send to the Chairman ^a detailed note on the
communal incidents which took place during March and April
1980.^ The Adviser^s ^Note on Rudramahalaya and Jama
Masjid^ was duly sent to the Chairman on May 16, 1980. It was
accompanied by ^>a map of the area and some photographs.^

The Note starts by giving a slightly different version of the status
of the Jami^> Masjid under the Baroda State and the frequency of
Muslim prayers in the Masjid. ^The erstwhile Baroda State,^

says the Note, ^took under protection in 1936-37 the Toranas and
other architectural remains of the Rudramahalaya excluding the
Masjid portion. After the merger of the State, the Rudramahalaya
and other State protected monuments were declared as Monuments
of National Importance under the 1951 Act. Subsequently, the
Jami Masjid being originally a part of the Rudramahalaya was also
declared a monument of National Importance. However, as it was
a monument in religious use, an agreement under the Ancient
Monuments and Sites and Remains Act was entered into between
the Trustees and the Archaeological Survey of India on behalf of
the President of India on the 31st March, 1954. At that time, the
monument was used for Friday prayers only and that too by a

small number of persons.^-

Next, the Note provides the background before the dispute arose
between the Survey and the Trustees. ^In 1959,^ proceeds the

Note, ^thc then Superintending Archaeologist recommended that
the modem buildings covering the view of the Rudramahalaya and
Jami Masjid should be removed for improving the environs and to
throw open the grand edifice to view. The Superintending
Archaeologist recommended the removal of the intermediate wall
also as it was a modern accretion. The proposals were accepted

and the acquisition of buildings was undertaken.^—

It took the Survey ten long years to acquire the modem buildings.

^ After compensation was paid.^ continues the Note, ^the
buildings were handed over to the Survey in 1969. The Joint
Director General (later Director General) inspected the site on
3.6.69 and after discussion with the Collector, Mehsana, and the
Trustees of the Masjid, drew up an Inspection Note in which he
instructed that (i) the demolition of buildings should be done in
one sweep (ii) the compound wall of the Masjid may be retained
with necessary modifications to include the acquired area and (iii)
the architectural remains that may be found in the clearance
operations should be preserved as they are likely to throw light on
the plan of the Rudramahalaya and (iv) a garden should be laid out

in the acquired area. ^ 1

For various reasons, the Survey could start operations at Sidhpur
only after ten more years had elapsed. ^ As the Trustees were
pressing for pulling down the acquired houses, the Superintending
Archaeologist, Baroda, inspected the site early in May, 1979 and
decided to implement the decision of the Joint Director General of

Archaeology by pulling down the acquired houses.^ The

operations were started on May 29, 1980. ^ As the northern wall
was very shabby and in a dilapidated condition, it had to be
repaired after pulling down. The digging of the acquired area was
necessary for the preparation of a garden. He discussed the
operation with the Trustees but before any step to pull down the
compound wall was taken, the Trustees filed a Writ Petition in the
High Court on 12th June, 1979 and an injunction asking the
Archaeological Survey of India to maintain status quo in the

. 1 8

Masjid area was issued. V—

The Note gives greater details about the litigation and the
compromises that followed. The Writ Petition No. 1662 of 1979

versus Union of India was filed by six Trustees of the Jami^

Masjid. They prayed for ^>(a) an order or direction permanently
restraining the correspondent, his servants and agents from
demolishing the surrounding buildings situated on the southern
side of the land bearing survey No. 37 of Sidhpur town in
Mehsana district in which the ancient Mosque named Jumma
Masjid is situated, without constructing a protecting wall
surrounding the said Masjid; (b) to issue an order or direction
directing the respondent to erect or allow the petitioners to erect a
compound wall surrounding the said survey No. 37 of the town of
Sidhpur in Mehsana district; (c) issue an injunction restraining the

respondent, his servants or agents from demolishing the walls of
the buildings on the southern side and northern side of survey No.

37 which have yet not been demolished by him. d

The Survey decided to contest the Writ Petition. dShri B.L.
Nagarch, Superintending Archaeologist, Western Circle, Baroda,
filed an affidavit in reply in the Gujarat High Court in July, 1979
wherein he stated that the purpose of demolishing die modem
buildings situated around the Jumma Masjid and Rudramahalaya
acquired by the Government of India was to arrest further damage
caused by the modem accretions and natural causes such as rain
and growth of vegetation, that it is the responsibility of the
Department to preserve the Masjid and the Rudramahal and they
have not interfered with the established religious usage of a
portion near the Jumma Masjid and that the Department has taken
clearance work necessary for undertaking structural repairs to the
roof and back wall which is out of plumb and has some
cavities. He further stated that the structures being demolished
were not within the Jumma Masjid but outside the monument, that
the acquisition was solely with a view to undertaking the repairs to
the monument and improve the surroundings by laying a garden.
He further stated that the Department would only demolish the

modern wall and not any ancient structure, d

The Honourable Judge suggested a compromise as he felt that the
Archaeological Survey was only trying to improve the monument

and its surroundings. d A dCompromised was then arrived at
according to which the compound walls were to be repaired and a
garden was to be laid out in the courtyard of the Masjid. Its back

wall was also to be repaired, d The Trustees withdrew their Writ
Petition on July 30, 1979.

The dCompromised, however, did not work. dWhile digging
for examining the foundation of shrines and the back wall of the
Masjid, important temple remains were found on the west and the

north. According to para 3 of dCompromised when garden
operations (digging) were started in the open courtyard temple
remains were found there also.d The Trustees started dhindering

further work.d The Superintending Archaeologist appealed to the
Collector of the District. The Collector called a meeting at
Mehsana on November 30, 1979. dThe Trustees were also

present in the meeting. It was agreed that further digging should be
stopped and that measures to preserve the temple remains such as
the provision of a canopy over it could be thought of. It was
pointed out that area within the courtyard for the garden was not
used for prayers as could be made out from the debris etc., that

were lying there.^ =

This agreement also did not work. ^Shri A.S. Quereshi, Advocate
for the Trustees, issued a notice dated the 6th Feb. 1980 to the
Superintendent, Archaeological Department asking the
Department to build the compound walls as per the compromise
and cover up the temple remains. The Supdt. Archaeological
Deptt. explained in person the importance of the discoveries made
and the need for revision of the compromise in the interest of
preserving the precious cultural heritage of the country. As Shri
Quereshi wanted to visit the site along with Supdt. Archaeological
Deptt. he went to Sidhpur on the 8th March, 1980. At first, he
agreed to the preservation but later he insisted on closing the
trenches in his very presence that day. The Supdt. Archaeological
Department ordered closure of the trenches and construction of
compound wall and both the works were started in his

a 23

presence. V—

The Hindus of Sidhpur objected to the covering of the temple
remains that had been uncovered. Tension mounted in the town as

reports spread that the Survey was filling up the trenches. ^Upto
the 14th March, 1980, a major part of the complex was covered
and the northern compound wall was constructed over some length
but then the trouble started and the labourers refused to

work.^> _± On March 15, 1980, the Puratatva Sanskrutik Abhyas
and Sansodhan Mandal, an organisation formed by some Hindus
of Sidhpur in January, 1980, filed a Civil Application No. 644 of
1980 against the Union of India and Mr. S.R. Rao, Superintending

Archaeologist. ^ Their prayer is mainly that the excavated area in
the courtyard of the Masjid should not be filled up and that status
quo should be maintained in the excavated area. ^ The High
Court granted a stay and the Archaeological Survey could not
proceed further with the construction of the compound wall.

Yet another attempt at a compromise was made after the riot on
March 14 had been controlled. ^Soon after the incident,^ says

the Commissioners Report, series of meetings were held by
the District Magistrate with the representatives of the Muslims and
Hindus to work out an amicable solution. An agreement was
reached between the representatives of the two communities to the
effect that the Muslims would forgo their right of prayer at the
Jama Masjid on the following conditions: (a) a suitable plot of
land situated near the railway station is allotted to them for the
construction of an alternative Masjid; (b) pending the construction
of the Masjid by the Muslims on this plot of land, they should be
allowed to offer their Namaz at the Jama Masjid; and (c) the Jama
Masjid should be maintained as a national monument by the
Archaeological Department and should not be open for any other

use.^> 2

But this compromise made by the Muslims of Sidhpur was
rejected by some Muslim organisations at the State level.

^►However, on the instigation of some of the Muslim

organisations,^ proceeds the Report, ^>the local Muslim leaders,
who had earlier agreed in the presence of the Distt. Magistrate to
the above terms of settlement conveyed their decision to wait until
a decision was taken on the terms of settlement at the State level.
At the same time, some of the Muslim organisations stepped up
their demand for allowing the Muslims to use the Jama Masjid for

Namaz .&—

The Note from the Government of Gujarat gives some more
details in this context. ^On the 26th March, 1980, Her Excellency
the Governor visited Sidhpur. She met both Hindus and Muslims
and advised them that they should select five persons and then sit
together and find out an amicable solution. Since both the parties
wanted some Government representative to remain present during
the discussion, the Collector was instructed to help them. The
same afternoon i.e. on the 26th March, both the parties met and the
above proposal was put up by the Muslims and discussed at
length. It was decided that they should effect this agreement before
the High Court the next day. Next day, they left for Ahmadabad
but on the intervention of certain organisations such as the All
India Muslim League, Jamat-e-Islami, Gujarat Avkaf and Trust
Federation, they decided to wait till a decision at the Gujarat level

was taken.

Finally, eight Muslim leaders joined together to file a further Writ

in the Gujarat High Court on April 5, 1980. The Note gives their
names and designations^ as follows:-

1. Shri Gulzarsha Ahmedshah Hakim, Managing Trustee of
Jumma Masjid, Sidhpur.

2. Haji Hussainbhai Habibur Mansuri, Trustee Jumma Masjid
Trust, Sidhpur.

3. Haji Ibrahim Haji Issak Quoreshi, Vice-President, Jamiet-ul-
Ulema-e-Hind, Branch Sidhpur.

4. Imtiskhan Mahabubkhan Pathan, Secretary, Jamiet-ul-Ulema-e-
Hind, Sidhpur Branch.

5. Maulvi Dawoodbhai Haji Suleman, President, Jamiet-ul-Ulma-
e-Hind, Mehsana Distt. Branch-Resident-Patan.

6. Maulvi Mohammed Ussian Fateh Mohammed, President, Uttar
Gujarat Masjid Bachao Samiti, Village Bhagal, Taluka Palanpur.

7. Abbas Tajmohammed, Vice-President of Uttar Gujarat Masjid
Bachao Samiti, Village Bhagal, Tal-Palanpur.

8. Dr. Rehmatulla Ahmedullah Hakim, President, Gujarat Muslim
Vakf and Trust Federation, Ahmadabad.

&Their prayers,^ according to the Note, ^are: (a) Jumma
Masjid should be declared Masjid open for offering Namaz; (b) To
fill up the excavation at the floor of the ^Kibla^> (Western) wall
and in the courtyard of the Masjid before 1.5.80; (c) To put a
compound wall where it existed before and it should be of stone
and high enough to prevent outside interference; (d) To cover the
entire courtyard with stone slab flooring and to rebuild muazams
quarter with stone slab; (e) To give permission to the Trustees to

have electric points in adequate number.^—

The Muslim Organisations, according to the Note, adopted some
other methods also for pressing their demands. ^>Some of the
organisations appear to have taken the decision that telegrams
should be sent to Government requesting to allow Muslims to use
the Jumma Masjid for Namaz and accordingly, a large number of
telegrams have been received by Government from the Muslims of

Gujarat and Bombay.^ Again: ^The Muslims appear to have
also decided to send printed letters to Government requesting that
any compromise or any writings regarding conversion of Jumma
Masjid at Sidhpur into a protected monument will not be binding
on them. Accordingly, more than 2400 printed letters have been

. T9

received by Government. V ^

Having ^considered the totality of the situation in the light of the
pepresentation/memorandum received from the Muslims of
Sidhpur and the report sent by the Adviser to the Governor,^ the
Commission decided to visit Sidhpur for an ^on-the-spot study of
the dispute.^ But the visit had to be postponed due to various

reasons. ^The Commission was finally able to visit Sidhpur on
2nd November, 1980, when it inspected the site of the Jama
Masjid and also held discussions with representatives of the
Muslims and Hindus at Sidhpur and the State Govt.

officials.^ The list of persons who ^appeared before the

Commission in connection with the dispute,^ names 15 Muslims,
7 Officials and 5 Hindus.—

As a result of the discussion the Commission suggested an 8-point
formula for settlement: ^(1) The Rudramahalaya complex
including the mosque would be retained as a national monument.
(2) The Mosque would be maintained in its original shape. The
sanctity of the mosque would be ensured by the A.S.I. and the
State Government. Also the sancity of the newly exposed temple
on either side of the mosque would be maintained. (3) The
excavations on the western side of the mosque as well as those in
the courtyard on the eastern side of the mosque will be filled up.
Ancient relics found in the present excavations would be removed
before the filling up. The existing Western Qibla wall of the
mosque proper would be restored to its original condition and
strengthened. The outer wall which was covering the two towers
on either side containing sculptures would not be rebuilt. (4) No
worship in any form would be offered by any community within
the precincts of the Rudramahalaya Complex. (5) The A.S.I.
would not make any further excavations within the mosque area
formerly enclosed by the compound wall. (6) No gathering for any
religious purpose would be permitted within the Rudramahalaya
complex. (7) The enforcement of these items would be guaranteed
by the State Government and the Central Government. (8) The
State Government would provide at nominal cost an alternative
site for the construction of a new mosque at the Government
Dharmashala near the clock tower after removing all existing

cabins and evicting the occupants of the Dharmashala.^

The formula was hailed by the then Home Minister and Chief
Secretary of the Government of Gujarat. They assured the

Commission that ^they would be able to bring about a solution of
the dispute to the satisfaction of both the communities on the basis
of the above-mentioned terms. V But it did not lead to a final
settlement. The Commission records at the end of its Report on
this dispute: ^Five months have elapsed since the Commission
visited Sidhpur and settled most of the differences between the
two communities over the use of the Jama Masjid and the
Rudramahalaya complex. The Home Minister and the
representatives of the State Government had extended the
assurance to the Commission that they would be able to bring
about a satisfactory solution to the above dispute on the basis of
the terms of settlement suggested by the Commission within a
reasonable span of time. However, no final settlement seems to

have been reached yet.^

The story as related in the Commission's report combined with
the Note from the Government of Gujarat tells us a few things
about the behaviour patterns of the different parties involved in the

dispute - the Trustees of the Jami^> Masjid, the Archaeological
Survey of India and the Government of Gujarat. It also gives us a
glimpse of the quality and character of leadership thrown up by the
two communities in the dispute over a place of worship. But what

interests us primarily in the present study is the temple

remains^ exposed by the Archaeological Survey of India in and

around the Jami^ Masjid. These ^temple remains^ point
towards a far more momentous story which has yet to be told.

II

A picture of the ^temple remains^ exposed in the J am i ^

Masjid area at Sidhpur has to be pieced together from five sources
which we have arranged according to the extent of details given.
First, we have the Note from die Government of Gujarat.

Secondly, we have the reply received by the Minorities^
Commission from the Archaeological Survey of India. Thirdly, we
have the Annual Reports of the Archaeological Survey of India for
1979-80 and 1980-81. Fourthly, we have a description in the

Minorities^ Commission's Report of what its members saw
during their visit to Sidhpur on November 2, 1980. Lastly, we

have an article by B.L. Nagarch included in a commemoration
volume brought out by a private publishing house in 1987. Shri
Nagarch was one of the Superintending Archaeologists at Sidhpur

at the time the ^temple remains^ were sighted.

The Note from the Government of Gujarat

The main purpose of the Note was to narrate the incidents which
took place at Sidhpur during March and April, 1980. It refers to

^►temple remains^ only when the narration touches them while

describing the dispute between the Trustees of the Jami^> Masjid

and the Archaeological Survey. The narration mentions ^temple

remains^ several time in different contexts. But we are left
wondering whether they are architectural or sculptural or both.

The Archaeological Survey of India

The Minorities^ Commission had called for a report from the
Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India
immediately after it received on October 4, 1979 a letter from the

Trustees of the Jami ^ Masjid stating that the Hindus of Sidhpur
were trying to usurp the Masjid. The date on which the
Commission wrote to the Survey is not given in the

Commission's Report, nor the date on which it received a reply
from the Survey. All we have is one para incorporated in the
Commission's Report. It says, ^Thc matter was taken up with
the Archaeological Survey of India which reported that ruins of
Rudra Mahalaya Complex and Jama Masjid at Sidhapur, though
forming one Complex were being protected individually under the
Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains
(Declaration of Places of National Importance) and were being
preserved on the lines they were originally protected. The dispute
arose out of demolition of the surrounding buildings, while
constructing a protective wall around the Masjid, which exposed

some Hindu idols within the precincts of the mosque.^—

The Annual Report of Archaeological Survey of India for 1979-80
published in 1983 has three entries on what was discovered at

Sidhpur. The first entry is in Chapter IV which deals with ^ Other

Important Discoveries^, State by State. We find the following
entry under Gujarat:

7. SCULPTURES, SIDHPUR, DISTRICT MEHSANA - Shri P.K.
Trivedi of the Western Circle of the Survey, discovered sculptures
of Hindu and Jaina pantheons, assignable variously from the tenth
to eighteenth century AD and an inscribed brass image of Vishnu
dated Samvat 1485 (AD 1429). -

Next, it has the following two entries in Chapter IX dealing with
^Preservation of Monuments^ in different Circles of the Survey:

288. JAMI-MASJID, SIDHPUR, DISTRICT MEHSANA - The
dilapidated western wall of the mosque is being repaired. While
carrying out demolition and clearance of wooden structures from
the acquired area the remains of some earlier structures have been
found. The work is in progress.

289. RUDRAMAHALAYA, SIDHPUR, DISTRICT MEHSANA
- The clearance of debris after demolition of the modem buildings
from the acquired area yielded number of loose sculptures,
including remains of an earlier temple.—

The publication has sixty-four plates carrying one hundred and
thirty photographs. No photograph of what was found at Sidhpur
has been included.

The Annual Report for 1980-81 also published in 1983 has one
entry in Chapter IV dealing with ^ Other Important
Discoveries.^ It says:

13. MEDIEVAL SCULPTURES, SIDHPUR, DISTRICT
MEHSANA - B.L. Nagarch, P.K. Trivedi and H. Michael of the
Western Circle of the Survey noticed sculptures of seated Uma-
Mahesvara, a royal worshipping couple, a head of Siva (pi.
XXXVI A) and a fragment of Salabhanjika recovered from the
Jami Mosque. All these are assignable to circa twelfth century
AD.—

The publication has fifty-eight plates carrying one hundred and
forty photographs. Only one photograph, A on plate XXXVI,

shows the ^Head of Siva^> found at Sidhpur.

Report of the Minorities^ Commission

The Report has recorded in eight paras what its members saw with
their own eyes while visiting the site at Sidhpur. Out of them, six

paras - 1-2, 5-6, and 8 - relate to ^temple remains^. They are as
follows:

1. A portion of the courtyard of the mosque in the east was dug
upto a depth of 10 ft. In a portion of this pit a stone Nandi (bull)
was embedded in the earth. We also saw several pieces of temple
architecture which had been dug up and kept in the pit.

2. The open site to the North of the mosque was also found
similarly dug up and several temple relics were lying exposed in
these pits.

3. There were two cubicles, one at the Northern and the other one
at the Southern side of the mosque. In the Northern cubicle, there
was a Siva Linga embedded in the earth and an idol carving
embedded in the wall while in the Southern cubicle there was only
an idol carving in the wall but no Siva Linga.

5. The Northern and Southern wings of the mosque which had
hitherto been covered up were now lying exposed obviously as a
result of removal of the covering material on these two wings
disclosing rich temple carvings.

6. The foundation of the Northern wing was also lying exposed
and it also revealed rich temple carvings.

8. A portion of the ground on the Western side of the mosque was
also found dug up and this was found to contain some temple
relics as well as the stone slabs which had been removed from the
outer wall of the mosque.—

It may be mentioned that by the time the Commission came to
Sidhpur, a major part of the excavations had been covered up. The

Note from the Government of Gujarat states that, ^upto the 14th
March, 1980, a major part of the complex was covered and the
northern compound wall was constructed over some length^ ^ 1

Article by B.L. Nagarch

B.L. Nagarch is a trained archaeologist familiar with the technical
language used for describing details of Hindu temples. He also
knows how to identify and describe various sculptures and
decorative designs. As the major part of his article is devoted to

^►temple remains^, we have to cite him at some length and under
several sections.

1. The Buried Temples

^>For carrying out repairs to the bulged western wall of the masjid
and overhanging foundation of the south-western shrine, it was
necessary to examine the foundation by excavating. Ornamental
plinth of a pre-Solanki temple (Period-1) was found in the course
of excavation for underpinning overhanging foundation of south¬
western shrine. This plinth (jagati) consists of a bhiTTa,
kapota decorated with kuDus, karNika, tamdla-paTTikd (frieze
decorated with tamalapatras), plain khura, kwmMadecorated with

half diamond designs and plain kala &a (PI. I). The dislodged
courses of the western wall of the masjid below the ground level
were also revealed during the course of examination of its
foundation by excavation. A Jar in situ was also exposed over the
plinth of this pre-Solanki temple.

^The debris near the entrance of masjid was removed. The
hidden plinth of north-western shrine was exposed as a result of
excavation for examining its foundation. During the course of
examination of the foundation of this north-western shrine, the
plinth of another pre-Solanki temple was found (PL II). The stone
flooring of the plinth showed the use of clamps and dowels for
binding the stones together. The mouldings of this plinth show
from bottom upwards bhiTTa, kapota decorated with kuDus,
antarapatra, karNika, antarapatra, tamdlapaTTikd carved
with tamdla-patras, khura, kumbha decorated with half diamond

designs, kala 4>a and kapota decorated with kuDus.

^Another exquisitely carved temple attached to the aforesaid pre-
Solanki temple (I) was laid bare in the north-west corner outside
the mosque while excavating for gardening (PI. III). The plinth of
this temple shows from bottom upwards bhiTTa, kapota decorated
with kuDus, antarapatra, karNika, antarapatra, tamala-

paTTikd carved with tamala-patras, narathara and diamonds in
panels. Only the plinth of the maNDapa of this temple has
survived. The sanctum of this temple is missing. The door-sill of
the sanctum door-way is fortunately in situ. Themandaraka carved
with spiral lotus scroll is flanked on either side by a
bold kirtimukha. A panel on the right of the kirtimukha on the right

depicts worship of GaNe^a (Plate-IV). Four-armed GaNe^a is
seated in a niche. He is flanked on the right by a standing male and
on the left by a standing female attendant. The niche is flanked on
the right by a standing female standing in tribhanga and

carrying kaTi and kala 4>a and on the left by two female
attendants, each standing in tribhanga and carryingka77 and
upraised in praise of god (pra &ansd mudra ). GaNe^a carries

chopped off para &u, padma and modaka-pdtra. He wears
akaraNDamukuTa, hdra and sarpayajhopavita.

panel on the left of the kirtimukha on the left shows niche
containing an image of a four-armed Kubera seated
in lalitdsana with his consort. He is flanked on the right by a
female chauri- bearer standing in tribhahgaand holding a chauri by
her right hand. The niche is flanked on the right by two female
attendants, each standing in tribhanga and on the left by a male
attendant standing in tribhanga. Kubera and his consort wear each
akaraNDamukuTa. Kubera holds a purse. His belly has been
chopped off.

^>A beautifully carved panel shows a fighting scene (Period-IA)
with warriors holding swords in their hands, a horse rider and an
elephant (PL V). Another panel on narathara depicts a fighting
scene with three warriors holding swords, a galloping horse and a
running camel.

^Other noteworthy (PL VI) among the scenes carved on
the narathara is a hunting scene wherein a man holding a bow and
arrow is seen shooting an arrow at the band of seven deers. (PL
VII).

^A small shrine of IndraNi opposite the aforesaid temple IA (pre-
Solanki), was also laid bare during excavation for gardening after
demolishing modem buildings (PL VIII). This shrine is composed
of two ornamented pilasters and is surmounted by
a chhadya carved with lotus petals. Each of the pilasters shows

from bottom upwards kumbhikd, decorated with half-diamond
design, plain kala &a, shaft showing square, octagonal and
circular sections carved with a human figure, kirtimukhawith
pearls coming out, bharaNi consisting

of karNikd and padma surmounted by vase and foliage motif. The
human figure on the right pilaster is a female standing

in tribhanga and carrying kaTi andpra 4>ansdi mudrd. Above this
is carved the name of the sculptor VoDa deva in Devanagari
characters. The human figure on the left pilaster is a dancing male.
Above this is carved the name of the sculptor as Dada.

^Four-armed IndraNi is seated in lalitdsana and
carries varaddksha, modakapatra, lotus-stalk and kamaNDalu. She
wears karaNDamukuTa, vaikakshayaka, hdra, keyuras, valayas,
nupuras and a sari fastened by a mekhald. The mount elephant is
carved below. On the pedestal is inscribed the name of the sculptor
in Devanagari characters (PI. IX).

^>The mouldings of the plinth of north-western shrine with friezes
of sculptures carved on a number of them, were exposed in course
of removal of debris and digging for gardening. They show from
bottom upwards bhiTTa, bhiTTa, plain jdiDaMba, antarapatra,
karNikd, antarapatra, grdsapaTTi, gajathara, narathara, khura,
kumbha, decorated with friezes of sculptures and
bejewelled kalaSa (PI. X). Carvings on the plinth and parapet of
the sabhdmaNDapa of north-west shrine were also revealed during
clearance of debris. The full view of thcsabhdinaNDapa of north¬
west shrine was exposed after removing the rubble-and-mud
compound wall (PL XI). The plinth of temple II which served as
base for northwest shrine was also revealed (PL XII).

^>The open area in front of the prayer hall of the masjid with
shabby pavement where shrubs and trees were growing and debris
had accumulated and which was not used for prayer, was
excavated for laying out a garden. While excavating for garden in
the eastern part of open courtyard in front of the prayer hall, the
sculpture of an elephant and remains of a temple were found. The
ornamented plinth of this temple shows from bottom
upwards jdDaMba decorated with bold lotus-scroll, karNikd,
kapota decorated with kuDus and grdsapaTTi (PL XIII). The
plinth shows that the temple above it was pancharatha in plan. An
underground passage below the plinth of this temple (Period-II)
also came to light. Well polished stones have been used for the
construction of this underground passage. Besides the sculptures

of the elephant mentioned above, a human figure and lotus designs
were also found by the side of the beautifully carved plinth of the
temple. This temple found during excavation for gardening

operation is perhaps of the time of Mularaja (Period-II).^

2. Smothered Sculptures

^►When the bulged portion of the western wall of the masjid was
being dismantled, it was brought to light that this wall was a
double wall. When the outer wall was dismantled the debris
including sculptural and architectural fragments filled in between
the inner and outer wall came out. There was a difference of one
metre between the inner and outer wall and all this space was
filled with debris. It could now be seen that the inner wall was
built out of the vedikd pilasters and other ruins of Rudramahalaya.
When the outer wall was removed, a number of hidden sculptures
of the south-west and north-west shrine, which were previously
hidden due to wall, were also exposed to view (PI. XIV).
Noteworthy among the sculptures of the south-western shrine are:

1. A standing apsaras.

2. A standing ascetic.

3. Four-armed VaruNa standing in tribhanga.

4. Four-armed Vayu standing in tribhanga.

5. A standing ascetic.

6. A standing naked ascetic.

7. Two-armed dancing female-deity holding a sword and a
chopped head.

8. Two-armed female-deity holding ahku &a and kapdla.

9. A standing ascetic.

10. A standing female with her right hand upraised and left hand in
kaTi.

11. A niche-shrine on the northern bhadra (central projection)
containing an image of eight-armed ChamuNDa standing

in tribhanga.

^►Noteworthy among the sculptures of the north-western shrine
are:

1. A chopped niche.

2,3. A standing bearded ascetic holding a dagger in his right hand.
4. Four-armed standing NiRriti with a serpent canopy above his
head.

5. Four-armed standing Yama with his head and hands chopped
off.

6. A standing ascetic holding a kamaNDalu in his left hand.

7. A standing ascetic wearing a kaupina. His right hand is
upraised.

8. Two-armed dancing female-deity. A dancing dwarf male
attendant is seen on her right.

9. Two-armed standing female-deity.

10. A standing ascetic. His right hand is upraised and he holds a
knife by his left hand.

11. Two-armed dancing female-deity.

12. A niche-shrine on the southern bhadra containing an image of
sixteen-armed ^iva with his right foot upraised and placed on a

lotus. A warrior with a sword is shown below the lotus, ^iva
holds sarpa, khaTvdngaand kheTaka in his surviving hands. He is
multi-headed.^

3. Inside the Qibla Wall of the Masjid

^While the bulged and out of plumb western wall of the Jami
Mosque was being dismantled the following sculptures and
architectural members embedded inside the wall came to light:-

1. An elephant rider.

2. A beautiful head of ^>iva.

3. A dancing gaNa.

4. A bust of a four-armed bearded male-deity.

5. A bearded male drummer.

6. Fragments of an elephant.

7. Three busts of &dlabhanjikd bracket figures.

8. An image of four-armed dancing Siva (NaTaraja).

9. Fragments of an dmalaka.

10. Fragments of chandrikd.

11. Fragments of SaMvarNa roof of the maNDapa.

12. Fragments of ^hikhara decorated with chaitya-gavdkshas.

13. Fragments of vedika, kakshdsana and rdjdsana.

^ Among the sculptures recovered from the western wall of the
mosque noteworthy is a head of Siva wearing elaborately
carved jaTdmukuTa. The expression of his face with half open
eyes, gracefully carved nose and prominent chin is serene (PI.

XVI). It measures 40 x 25 x 25 cms.^ -

4. Converted Shrines

^During the course of dismantling of the western wall of the
mosque, two of the three shrines which were converted into
mosque, were also exposed to view. The debris filled inside them
was removed. The shrine on the southern side has inside it a

circular yonipciTTa fixed into its floor. The &ivalinga above
this yonipciTTa is missing. The rear wall of this shrine has niches
composed of three pilasters and each surmounted by a small
pediment of chaitya arches. One of the niches contains

seated Uma-Mahe &vara on the mount bull and the other contains
a donor couple (probably King Siddharaja Jaisingh and his queen).
The bearded male (Siddharaja Jaisingh) is shown standing with
folded hands in an attitude of supplication. His queen is standing
on his left. On the southwestern comer is a small water cistern for
storage of water (Plate-XVI).

^Thc ceiling of the shrine is elaborately carved. The architrave of
the ceiling is carved with padmalata and cut-triangles. The ceiling
is carved with a kirtimukha at each corner. This domical ceiling
has four concentric courses of lotuses. The centre of the dome is
carved with a full-blown lotus. It has an elaborately carved door¬
way. The ceiling of the antarala is carved with fine full blown
lotuses. The shrine measures 2.08 x 2.15 x 3.07 mtrs.

^Thc northern shrine measures 2.19 x 2.02 x 2.95 mtrs.
internally.

^►The architrave of the ceiling is elaborately carved with lotus
scroll and cut-triangles. Each of the corners of the ceiling is carved
with a kirtimukha. The domical ceiling consists of three courses of
lotus courses of concentric circles. At the centre of the domical

ceiling is carved a full blown lotus. There is a chandra &ila in
front of the shrine.

^Thc shrine has an elaborately carved doorway which has been
badly damaged. The ceiling of the antarala is carved with five full

blown lotuses.

^>The northern shrine has inside its sanctum a ^ivalinga installed
on a yonipaTTa. The rear wall of the sanctum is carved with two
niches, one of which contains a donor, a royal couple (probably
Siddharaja Jaisingh with his wife). A female is seen holding a
parasol above the head of the bearded king the head of whose wife
has been chopped off. The pilasters of this niche are highly
ornamented. The other niche contains an image of a queen
standing in tribhanga. Her both hands and head have been
chopped off. She is flanked on either side by two female
attendants standing in tribhanga. (PI. XVIII). Both of these
sculptures are of white marble. The other images which are at
present kept in the sanctum are:

1. Bust of a dancing apsaras, her male attendant holding a parasol
above her head is depicted on her left. Her right breast has been
Chopped off. It measures 45 x 17 x 12 cms.

2. ^>iva NaTaraja inside a niche with a makara toraNa. The niche
is flanked on either side by a standing male attendant. It measures
48 x 58 x 25 cms.

3. A stone slab carved with a niche composed of two circular
pilasters and surmounted by a small pediment of chaitya- arches.
The niche is carved with an elaborate door from which a woman is
seen coming out and catching hold of a child in her right hand. Her
head has been chopped off. The niche is flanked on either side by

a dwarf male attendant. It is made of white sand-stone and
measures 70 x 60 x 42 cms.

4. Four-armed dancing NaTaraja inside a niche, carrying
indistinctpara &li, khaTvahga and kapdla. It is made of white
sand-stone and measures 40 x 55 x 8 cms.

5. Head of a deity wearing karaNDamukuTa. It is made of white
sand-stone and measures 20 x 15 x 15 cms.

6. A dancing male. It measures 35 x 27 x 7 cms. Made of white
sand-stone.

7. Head of Yama wearing karaNDmukuTa. He has long
moustaches, protruding teeth, bulging eyes, and is bearded. It

measures 27 x 15 x 7 cms.

8. Bust of a bearded male drummer measuring 20 x 19 x 20 cms.

9. Head of an apsaras measuring 20 x 20 x 20 cms.

10. Bust of a dancing apsaras. It measures 40 x 15 x 20 cms.

11. A dancing male inside a small niche. At the left end of this
slab is carved a beautiful head of an apsaras whose hair are very
elaborately arranged. It is made of white sand-stone and measures
40 x 40 x 25 cms.

12. A stone slab carved with a dancing male. On his right is carved
a bearded male drummer whose head has been partly chopped off.
It is made of white sand-stone and measures 32 x 35 x 12 cms.

13. A bearded male dancing. Both his legs have been chopped off.
He has moustaches. It measures 52 x 35 x 20 cms. It is made of

white sand-stone. He wears earlobes. V—

The article by B.L. Nagarch is accompanied by eighteen plates of
photographs and a plan of the Rudramahalaya complex. The

photographs show the ^temple remains^, sculptural and

architectural, discovered in and around the I am i ^ Masjid. The
plan shows three unexcavated zones where it is most likely that
many more ^temple remains^ are lying buried, waiting to be
exposed some day by the excavators spade.

Footnotes:

1 Fourth Annual Report of the Minorities &
Commission for the Period 1.1.1980 to 31.3.1981, New
Delhi, 1983, p. 130.

2 Ibid., pp. 130-31.

- Ibid., p. 131.

- Ibid., p. 129.

- Ibid., p. 133.

- Ibid., pp. 133-34. It may be noted that no Jana Sangh
existed at that time, the party having merged itself in the
Janata Party in May, 1977.

1 Ibid., p.

134.

Ibid., p.

132.

- Ibid., p.

134.

— Ibid., p.

132.

11 Ibid., p.

134.

-Ibid.

— Ibid., p.

140.

— Ibid., p.

141. Emphasis added.

— Ibid., pp. 141-42.

— Ibid., p.

142.

-Ibid.

-Ibid.

— Ibid., pp. 149-50.

— Ibid., p.

150.

— Ibid., p.

143.

-Ibid.

— Ibid., Emphasis added.

— Ibid., p.

144.

— Ibid., p.

151.

— Ibid., pp. 132-33.

— Ibid., p. 133.

— Ibid., p. 146.

— Ibid., pp. 151-52.

— Ibid., p. 152.

— Ibid., p. 146.

— Ibid., p. 147.

— Ibid., pp. 134-35.

— Ibid., p. 135.

— Ibid., p. 139.

— Ibid., pp. 136-37.

— Ibid., p, 137.

— Ibid., p. 138.

— Ibid., P. 9.

— Indian Archaeology 1979-80 - A Review , p. 99.

— Ibid., P. 148.

42

— Indian Archaeology 1980-81 -A Review , p. 90.

— Fourth Annual Report, pp. 135-36.

— Ibid., p. 144.

— Recent Archaeological, Discoveries from
Rudramahalaya and Jami Masjid, Sidhpur^, Kusumdhjali:
Shri Sivardmamurti Commemoration Volume , Delhi, 1987,
Vol. H, pp. 396-97.

— Ibid., pp. 397-98.

— Ibid., pp. 398-99.

Ibid., pp. 399-400.

48

CHAPTER TWO

THE STORY OF RUDRAMAHALAYA

In order to understand fully the meaning of what was exposed at Sidhpur and the strife it caused, we have
to know what the Rudramahalaya was, how it came to be built at Sidhpur and how a Jami^ Masjid was

raised on its site and from its debris. The Report of the Minorities^ Commission provides some historical
background. So does the Note from the Government of Gujarat. But the information is meagre and leaves a
lot to be told. Both of them were dealing with a ^communal problem^ and were not expected to give a
detailed history of Sidhpur, the Rudramahalaya and the Jami^> Masjid.

Sidhpur

The Note from the Government of Gujarat gives no information about the historical or religious importance
of Sidhpur. The Report of the Minorities^ Commission says that ^Sidhpur is a historical towir^ and that

^►it was ruled successively by Hindu Rajas and Muslim Sultans.^There is no reference to the religious
importance of Sidhpur as a place of Hindu pilgrimage. The article by B.L. Nagarch brings out that point
when it says that ^as the obsequial offerings to the paternal ancestors must be made at Gaya, so
corresponding offerings to the maternal ancestors have to be performed at Sidhpur.^ Nagarch tells us also

that ^the ancient name of Sidhpur appears to have been ^risthala or ^risthalaka^ and that ^>the name
of Sidhapur was given to this place in honour of Siddharaja JayasiMha who completed the Temple of
Rudra-Mahadeva in the twelfth century here. ^

The PuraNas regard ^risthala as the most sacred spot in the Sarasvata-maNDala of Gujarat. The Bhagvata
PuraNa associates it with Kardamans/z/, who had his hermitage here, and also with Kapila muni, who was
born in this place on the bank of the sacred Sarasvati river. It was also known as Vindusara.- It is said that
ANahillapaTaka or ANahillapaTTaNa, the capital of medieval Gujarat before Ahmadabad came up in the

first quarter of the fifteenth century, was founded where it was because of its nearness to ^risthala.

ANahillapaTTaNa, now known as Patan, was built in AD 745 by Vanaraja, the founder of the ChavoTkaTa
or Chapa or Chavda dynasty. It reached its greatest glory, however, in the reign of JayasiMha (AD 1094-
1143), the most illustrious ruler of the Chaulukya or Solanki dynasty of Gujarat. layasimha was very much

devoted to ^risthala and visited it often in order to keep the company of sages and saints living at this
place. There is a popular legend that JayasiMha defeated and captured Barbara, a demon who was
molesting the holy men at ^risthala. Barbara, we are told, became his obedient servant and performed
many superhuman deeds for him. That is how JayasiMha earned the sobriquet of Siddharaja. He built at
^risthala a temple dedicated to Rudra Mahakala which became known as Rudramahalaya or simply

Rudramala. Because of its close association with Siddharaja, ^risthala became known as Siddhapura
which name was corrupted to Sidhpur in course of time.

The spiritual fame of Sidhpur, however, proved to be its misfortune when Gujarat passed under a long spell
of Muslim rule towards the close of the thirteenth century. Thereafter it attracted the attention of every

Islamic iconoclast. Its temples were reduced to ruins and its holy men were either killed or scared away. Its
spiritual importance had become greatly reduced when MuNhata NaiNasi, the famous historian of
Rajasthan, visited it in Samvat 1717 (AD 1660). NaiNasi was at that time the Diwan of Maharaja J as want
Singh of Jodhpur who had been appointed the Governor of Gujarat by Aurangzeb in AD 1658. He has left

for us a brief description, historical and topographical, of Sidhpur as he saw it. ❖ Sidhpur, ❖ writes

NaiNasi ❖is a pleasant city. It was founded by Sidharao after his own name. He invited from the East one
thousand Udichya BrahmaNas who were well-versed in the Vedas and gave them seven hundred villages
around Sidhpur^ He had built a big temple named Rudramala. That was razed to the ground by Sultan
Alauddin. Even so, several temples survive today. Beyond the city, towards the east, there is the river
Sarasvari. A temple dedicated to Madhava had been built on its bank. A gliaTa [flight of steps leading to
the river] has also been constructed. The temple was destroyed by the Mughals but the ghaTa can still be

seen ❖ A Turk has built his bungalow on the ghaTa.

Sidhpur was liberated from the Muslim stranglehold by the Marathas in the first quarter of the eighteenth
century. By the first quarter of the nineteenth, the Marathas lost to the British and in the settlement that
followed Sidhpur was included in the princely state of Baroda along with Patan. The Marathas made no
attempt to revive Sidhpur as a centre of Hindu pilgrimage. Nor did they try to restore Patan as the seat of a
Hindu government. Neither the spiritual nor the political capital of Gujarat at one time has retained
anything of a great past except wistful memories.

Rudramahalaya

The Note from the Government of Gujarat says that the Rudramahalaya was ^built by Siddharaja
Jayasimha in the 12th century ❖ and that ❖it had eleven shrines dedicated to Akadasa Rudras .❖- The

Report of the Minorities ❖ Commission repeats this description with the elucidation that ❖in the centre of
this complex was situated the temple and in and around the courtyard were 11 other shrines dedicated to the
Rudras ❖-Both of them say that the temple was profusely sculptured and ornamented. But none of them
mentions what has survived of the central temple or the surrounding shrines.

B.L. Nagarch gives greater details in his aforementioned article. He writes:

❖in about AD 944 Mularaja had founded the Rudra Mahalaya, but as he had to remain busy in invasions
and other engagements he could not complete it. This temple fell into ruins during the following centuries.
Siddharaja JayasiMha took up the work of reconstruction of this temple on a scale greater than that
originally conceived and could not finish the work till his death in AD 1143.

❖Rudramahalaya is the grandest and the most imposing conception of a temple dedicated to ❖iva. Only a
few fragments of the mighty shrine now survive, namely, four pillars in the north and five in the eastern
side, porches of the three storeyed maNDapa. Four pillars in the back of it, a toraNa and a cell at the back
remain in situ after being dismantled in the 13th century AD. With its adjacent shrines, possibly eleven,
part of which was converted into Jami mosque later in the Mughal period, it must have formed part of a

grand conception dedicated to Ekada^a Rudras.

❖ Originally it covered an area of 100 x 66 mtrs. The central building itself occupies an area of about 50 x
33 mtrs. The mighty pillars of this temple are the tallest so far known in Gujarat. ❖

It is difficult to visualize what the Rudramahalaya looked like when it stood intact and in all its majesty. No
other edifice of a similar conception has survived. We have only some legendary accounts, one of which is
from NaiNasi who tells us how the Rudramahalaya was conceived and constructed. We give below a
summary of what he has written at length.

Sidharao, says NaiNasi, saw the Earth in a dream, appearing in the form of a damsel and demanding that
she be decorated with a choice ornament. The king consulted the learned men who could divine dreams and
they told him that the ornament for the Earth could mean only a magnificent temple. So the king invited
architects from every land and they presented to him models of what they could conceive to be the best.

But no model satisfied Sidharao and he became despondent. At that time there were two notorious thieves
in his kingdom, Khapra and Kala. As they started gambling on the Divali day, Khapra wagered that he
would give KoDidhaja, the renowned steed of Sidharao, if he lost the game. He lost and promised to the
winner that he would procure the steed by the time of the next Divali day. He wormed himself into the
confidence of Sidharao, first as a sweeper in the royal stable and then as a syce of KoDidhaja. The king

who visited the stable everyday was very much pleased with Khapra^s services and spent some time

talking to him. One day the king confided to Khapra his (the king^s) disappointment in the matter of a
suitable temple. Soon after, the thief ran away with the horse and stopped for rest only when he reached the
valley of Mount Abu. All of a sudden he saw the earth split and a temple came out. Gods and Goddesses
staged a play in the temple as Khapra watched sitting in a window of the divine edifice. He was reminded

of Sidharao^s despondence and thought that this was the temple which would meet the king's
expectations. He found out from the, Gods that the same miracle would be enacted again on the night of the
day after next and rushed back to PaTaNa where he gave a graphic account to the king. The king came to
the same spot and saw the temple which fully satisfied him. The Gods told him how to find the master
architect who would build a similar temple for him. It took sixteen years to be completed, even though
thousands of artisans were employed.-

NaiNasi has included in his chapter on the Rudramala a poem written in its praise by Lalla BhaTTa.- The
first two stanzas which describe the architecture and sculptures of the temple are as follows:

Fourteen storeys rise above the earth and seven thousand pillars.

In row after row, while eighteen hundred statues studded with emeralds adorn it.

It is endowed with thirty thousand flagstaffs with stems carved and leaves of gold.

Seven thousand sculptured elephants and horses stand in attendance on Rudra.

Seeing it all, Gods and men get struck with wonder and are greatly charmed,

JayasiMha has built a temple which excites the envy of emperors. The sculptured elephants and lions
trumpet and roar, all around, again and again.

The golden kala &as glitter on the maNDapa upheld by numerous pillars.

The statues sing and dance and roll their eyes.

So that even the Gods jump with joy and blow their conches.

The ecstatic dance of Gods is watched by Gods and men who crowd around.

That is why the Bull,— O Sidha! O King of Kings! is feeling frightened.

A modern expert on medieval Hindu architecture has speculated about the Rudramahalaya on the basis of
what has survived. ^The Solanki tradition maintains,^ writes Dr. S.K. Saraswati, ^a rich and prolific
output in the twelfth century AD which saw two eminent royal patrons of building art in Siddharaja
JayasiMha and Kumarapala. With the former is associated the completion of an imposing conception, the
Rudra Mala or Rudra Mahalaya, at Siddhapur (Gujarat). Unfortunately it is now completely in ruins but a
picture of its former splendour seems to have survived in a Gujarati ballad which speaks of the temple as
covered with gold, adorned with sixteen hundred columns, veiled by carved screens and pierced lattices,
festooned with pearls, inlaid with gems over the doorways and glistening with rubies and diamonds. Much
of this is, no doubt, exaggeration full of rhetoric; but the impressive character of the conception is
evidenced by the scanty, though co-lossal, remains. They consist of groups of columns of the

pillared maNDapa, which seems to have been in more than one storey, and had three enterance porticos on
three sides. The surviving foundations suggest that the conception with the usual appurtenances occupied a
space nearly 300 feet by 230 feet. In front there stood a kirti-toraNa of which one column still remains.
From the dimensions the Rudra Mala seems to have been one of the largest architectural conceptions in this

area. The rich character of its design is fully evident in the few fragments that remain. 1

The Jami^ Masjid

The Note from the Government of Gujarat says that ^the temple was destroyed and three shrines in the
eastern flank of the temple were converted into a mosque but there is no evidence as to the date of
conversion.^ 2 The Report of the Minorities^ Commission gives more details about the destruction and

conversion of the temple. ^►This temple,^ says the Report, ^ seems to have been destroyed partly by
Ulugh Khan in AD 1297-98 and partly by Ahmadshah in AD 1415. Some of the cubicles and a number of
pillars on the Western side of the temple, it would appear were later converted into a mosque. The prayer
hall of the mosque so converted has three domes. In the Western (Qaba) waft of the mosque Mimbar and
Mehrabs were provided by using the doors of the shrines which were then filled with debris. The exact date
of conversion of this part of Rudramahalaya complex is not known. However, according to inscriptions at
the entrance it appears that the mosque known as Jama Masjid, was constructed during the reign of

Aurangzeb in 1645.

B.L. Nagarch, on the other hand, writes that ^the inscription fixed in the modern entrance gate to the
mosque mentions the construction of shops by Ali Askari in Adil Ganj and there is no reference to the
mosque.^—Moreover, Aurangzeb was not the ruling Mughal monarch in 1645, having ascended the throne

thirteen years later in 1658. The ^temple remains^ discovered inside the mosque also go to show that at
least that part of the structure was built not long after the Rudramahalaya was demolished. The
Minorities^ Commission, it seems, has relied upon some local tradition about Aurangzeb having built the
mosque. Aurangzeb did live in Gujarat in 1645 when he was appointed Governor of that province by Shah
Jahan. He also destroyed Hindu temples in Gujarat as is evident from his firman dated November 20, 1665

which says that Ahmadabad and other parganas of Gujarat in the days before my accession (many)

temples were destroyed by my order. It seems that somewhere along the line several stories have got
mixed up and Aurangzeb has been credited with a pious deed he did not perform at Sidhpur, not at least in
respect of the Jami ^ Masjid built on the site and from the debris of the Rudramahalaya. What might have

happened is that some major repairs to the Jami ^ Masjid were carried out while he was the Governor of
Gujarat and at his behest. The subject needs examination with reference to records, if any.

Nor do we find a specific mention of Sidhpur or the Rudramahalaya in the available accounts of Ulugh
Khan^s invasion of Gujarat. The Minorities^ Commission has made a mistake in giving the date of the
invasion as AD 1297-98. The correct date is 1299.

There is, however, no doubt that Ahmad Shah I (AD 1411- 43), the Sultan of Gujarat, destroyed the
Rudramahalaya and raised a mosque on the site. ^>Soon after his return to Ahmadabad,^ writes S.A.I.
Tirmizi, ^ Ahmad marched to Sidhpur, which was one of the most ancient pilgrim centres in north Gujarat.
It was studded with beautiful temples, some of which were laid low.^ 1! A.K. Majumdar is more specific.
^Ahmad Shah like his grandfather,^ he says, ^>was a bigot and seized every opportunity to demolish

Hindu temples. In 1414, he appointed one Taj-ul-Mulk to destroy all temples and to establish Muslim
authority throughout Gujarat. According to Firishta, the task was ^executed with such diligence that the

names of Mawass and Girass (i.e. Hindu zamindars ) were hereafter unheard of in the whole kingdom.^
Next year Ahmad attacked the celebrated city of Sidhpur in north Gujarat where he broke the images in the
famous Rudramahalaya temple and converted it into a mosque.^—

A poetic account of what Ahmad Shah did at Sidhpur is available in Mirat-i-Sikandari, the history of
Gujarat, written by Sikandar ibn-i-Muhammad alias Manjhu ibn-i-Akbar in the first quarter of the sixteenth

century. ^>He marched on Saiyidpur,^ 1 - writes the historian, ^on Jamad-ul-Awwal in AH 818
(July/August, AD 1415) in order to destroy the temples which housed idols of gold and silver.

Verse

He marched under divine inspiration.

For the destruction of temples at Saiyidpur,

Which was a home of the infidels.

And the native place of accursed fire-worshippers.—

There they dwelt, day and night.

The thread-wearing idolaters.—

It had always remained a place for idols and idol-worshippers.
It had received no injury whatsoever from any quarter.

It was a populous place, well-known in the world,

This native place of the accursed infidels.

Its foundations were laid firmly in stone.

It was decorated with designs as if drawn from high heaven.

It had doors made of sandal and ud.—

It was studded with rings of gold.

Its floors were laid with marble.

Which shone like mirrors.

Ud was burnt in it like fuel.

Candles of camphor in large numbers were lighted in it.

It had arches in every corner.

And every arch had golden chandeliers hanging in it.

There were idols of silver set up inside.

Which put to shame the idols of China and Khotan.

Such was this famous ancient temple.

It was famous all over the world.

By the effort of Ahmad, it was freed from the idols.

The hearts of idol-worshippers were shattered with grief.

He got mosques constructed, and mimbars placed in them.
From where the Law of Muhammad came into force.

In place of idols, idol-makers and idol-worshippers.

Imams and callers to prayers and khatibs were appointed.

Ahmad^s good grace rendered such help,

That an idol-house became an abode of Allah.

^ When the Sultan was free from Saiyidpur, he marched on Dhar in AH 819 (AD 1416-17).^

Siddharaja JayasiMha

The destruction of Hindu temples and their conversion into mosques was, as we shall see, a normal
occupation for most of the Muslim rulers in medieval India. What adds a touch of pathos to the destruction
and conversion of the Rudramahalaya is that its builder, Siddharaja JayasiMha, had become known to the
Muslims as a protector of their places of worship in Gujarat. Many other Hindu rulers provided the same
protection to their Muslim subjects, as is evident from the presence of Muslim populations and religious
establishments in all leading towns of western, southwestern and northern India long before these towns
were sacked and occupied by Islamic invaders. K.A. Nizami has devoted a long essay to this subject and
named Lahore, Benares, Bahraich, Ajmer, Badaun, Kanauj, Bilgram, Gopamau and Koil (Aligarh), etc., in
this context.— Other sources point to Muslim presence in the towns of Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat
and Maharashtra. The doings of Siddharaja JayasiMha have, however, found place in a Muslim

history. Jami &u-l Hikayat, written by Muhammad ^HJfT who lived at Delhi in the reign of Shamsu^d-
Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-36). The writer was a great collector of anecdotes regarding persons, places and
events. He wrote:

^►Muhammad ^MJfT, the compiler of this work, observes that he never heard a story to be compared with
this. He had once been to Kambayat (Cambay), a city situated on the sea-shore, in which, a number of
Sunnis, who were religious, faithful, and charitable lived. In this city, which belonged to the chiefs of
Guzerat and Nahrwala,— was a body of Fire-worshippers— as well as the congregation of Musulmans. In
the reign of a king named Jai Singh, there was a mosque and a minaret from which the summons to prayers
were cried. The Fire-worshippers instigated the infidels to attack the Musulmans and the minaret was
destroyed, the mosque burnt, and eight Musulmans were killed.

4k A certain Muhammadan, a Khatib, or reader of the Khutba by name Khatib 4k Ali, escaped and fled to
Nahrwala. None of the courtiers of the Rai paid any attention to him, or rendered him any assistance, each
one being desirous to screen those of his own persuasion. At last, having learnt that the Rai was going out

to hunt, Khatib ^ Ali sat down behind a tree in the forest and awaited the Rai^s coming. When the Rai

had reached the spot, Khatib ^Ali stood up, and implored him to stop the elephant and listen to his
complaint. He then placed in his hand a kaisda, which he had composed in Hindi verse, stating the whole
case. The Rai having heard the case placed Khatib ^ AI i under charge of a servant, ordering him to take the
greatest care of him, and produce him in court when required to do so. The Rai then returned, and having
called his minister, made over temporary charge of the Government to him, stating that he intended to
seclude himself for three days from public business in his harem, during which seclusion he desired to be
left unmolested. That night, Rai Jai Singh, having mounted a dromedary started from Nahrwala for
Kambayat and accomplished the distance, forty parasangs, in one night and one day. Having disguised

himself by putting on a tradesman's dress, he entered the city, and stayed a short time in different places

in the market place, making inquiries as to the truth of Khatib ^Ali^s complaint. He then learnt that the
Muhammadans were oppressed and slain without any grounds for such tyranny. Having thus learnt the
truth of the case, he filled a vessel with sea-water and returned to Nahrwala, which he entered on the third
night from his departure. The next day he held his court, and summonning all complainants he directed the
Khatib to relate his grievance. When he had stated his case, a body of the infidels wanted to intimidate him
and falsify his statements. On this the Rai ordered his water-carrier to give the water pot to them that they
may drink from it. The Rai then told them that he had felt unable to put implicit confidence in any one
because a difference of religion was involved in the case; he had himself therefore gone to Kambayat, and
having made personal enquires as to the truth, had learnt that the Muhammadans were victims of tryanny
and oppression. He said that it was his duty to see that all his subjects were afforded such protection as
would enable them to live in peace. He then gave orders that two leading men from each class of Infidels,
Brahmans, Fire-worshippers and others should be punished. He then gave a lac of Balotras— to enable them
to build their mosque and minarets. He also granted to Khatib four articles of dress. These are preserved to
this day, but are exposed to view on high festival days. The mosque and minaret were standing until a few

days ago.^~

Footnotes:

1 The Fourth Annual Report, p. 130.

- B.L Nagarch, op cit., p. 395.

- Nundo Lai Day, The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval India, third edition. New
Delhi, 1971, p. 38.

- Munhata NaiNasm Khyata, Jodhpur, 1984, Vol. 1, pp. 261-62. The passage quoted has been
Translate from The original in MaravaRi language.

- The Fourth Annual Report, p. 141.

- Ibid., p. 130.

- B.L Nagarch, op.cit., p. 395.

- Munhata NaiNasi, op.cit., pp. 258-61.

- Ibid., pp. 262-63.

— The reference is to the Bull who according to Hindu mythology supports the Earth on his horns.

— R.C. Majumdar (ed.). The History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. V, The Struggle For
Empire, Third Edition, Bombay, 1976, pp. 595-96.

— The Fourth Annual Report, p. 141.

— Ibid., p. 130.

— B.L Nagarch, op. cit., p. 395.

— Quoted by Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzeb, Vol. Ill, Calcutta, 1972 Impression, p. 285.

— Mohammad Habib (ed.), A Comprehensive History of India, Vol. V, The Delhi Sultanat, First
Reprint, New Delhi, 1982, p. 853.

— R.C. Majumdar (ed.), op. cit., Vol. VI, The Delhi Sultanate, Bombay, 1960, p. 158.

— The Islamic name of Sidhpur, unless it is a mispronunciation on the part of the historian. As we
shall see in this study. Muslim rulers had Islamicized practically every important place-name in
India.

1 Applied to Zoroastrians of Iran to start with, the term ^fire-worshippers^ mars later of, used
for idol-worshippers in India.

— The BrahmaNas wearing the sacred thread.

— A kind of costly wood.

== Translated from the Hindi rendering in S.A.A. Rizvi^s Uttara Taimura Kalina Bharata,

Aligarh, 1959, Vol. II, pp. 268-69. Strangely enough, this poem has been omitted Iron the English
translation by Fazlullah Lutfullah Faridi published from Dharampur and recently reprinted

(Gurgaon.1990). The English translation says, AH 818 (AD 1416), the Sultan attacked
Sidhpur and broke the idols and images in the big temple at that place and turned the temple into a
mosque^ (p. 14).

— Mohammad Habib, op. cit., pp. 137-42.

— The Muslim pronunciation of ANahilwaDa.

^>The word in the original is Mugh which has been generally accepted to indicate the
Zoroastrians or fire-worshippers, but Prof. S.H. Hodiwala, Studies in Indo-Muslim History
(Bombay, 1939) pp. 72-73, thinks it may refer to Jains^ (Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian
Supplement, 1961, p. 5n).

— Unit of a silver currency at that time.

— Elliot and Dowson, History of India as told by its own Historians, Vol. II, pp. 162-64. fi expresses
surprise at the Hindu King^s behaviour because such behaviour was inconceivable for a Muslim.

According to the Islamic norm, a king is expected to destroy rather than restore other peopled places of

worship.

CHAPTER THREE

MUSLIM RESPONSE TO HINDU PROTECTION

The protection provided by Siddharaja JayasiMha to Muslims and their places of worship was continued by
his successors in Gujarat. The population of Muslims as well as their places of worship continued to
multiply in several cities of Gujarat as is borne out by numerous inscriptions, particularly from Khambat,
Junagadh and Prabhas Patan, dated before Gujarat passed under Muslim rule in the aftermath of Ulugh

Khan^s invasion in AD 1299.

^These records,^ observes Z.A. Desai, the learned Muslim epigraphist, ^make an interesting study
primarily because they were set up in Gujarat at a time when it had still resisted Muslim authority. That the
Muslims inhabited quite a few cities, especially in the coastal line of Gujarat, quite long before its final

subjugation by them, is an established fact. The accounts of Arab travellers like Mas^udi, Istakhari, Ibn
Hauqal and others, who visited Gujarat during the ninth and tenth centuries of the Christian era, amply
testify to the settlements of Muslims in various towns and cities. The inscriptions studied below also tend to
corroborate the fact that the Muslims had continued to inhabit Gujarat until it became a part of the Muslim
empire of Delhi. Moreover, they furnish rare data for an appraisal of the condition of Muslims under non-
Muslim rulers of Gujarat. On one hand, they indicate the extent of permeation of Islamic influence in
Gujarat at a time when it was still ruled by its own Rajput princes and show that Muslims had long
penetrated into different parts of Gujarat where they lived as merchants, traders, sea-men, missionaries,
etc.; these settlements were not only on the coastal regions but also in the interior as is indicated by some of

these records. On the other hand, these epigraphs form a concrete and ever-living proof of the tolerance and
consideration shown vis-a-vis their Muslim subjects by Hindu kings who were no doubt profited by the

trade and commerce carried on by these foreign settlers.^

It seems, however, that these ^merchants, traders, sea-men and missionaries^ were not satisfied with the
situation obtaining under Hindu rule. They kept looking forward to the day when the Dar al-Harb (land of
the infidels against which Muslims are obliged to wage war) that was Gujarat would become Dar al¬
lslam (land of the faithful). The evidence of how these Muslim settlers worked as sappers and miners of
Islamic invasions of Gujarat remains to be collected from Muslim annals. Here we are citing an inscription
from Prabhas Patan, the city which was famous for its temple of Somanatha.

The inscription is dated AD 1264 and records the construction of a mosque at Prabhas Patan by a Muslim
ship-owner. The stone slab containing its Arabic version is now fixed in the Qazi^s Mosque at Prabhas
Patan and is not in situ. The Sanskrit version which, it seems, was removed at some time and is now in a
wall of the Harasiddha Mata temple in the nearby town of Veraval, has been summarised as follows by
Z.A. Desai:

^►Ship-owner Nuru^d-Din Piruz, son of ship-owner Khwaja Abu Ibrahim, a native of Hormuz,- had come
for business to the town of god Somnath during the reign of Arjunadeva, the Vaghela king of Gujarat (C.
AD 1261-74) when Amir Ruknu^d-Din was the ruling chief of Hormuz; Piruz purchased a piece of land
situated in the ^►ikottari Mahayanpal outside the town of Somnath in the presence of the leading men like
Thakkur ^ri Palugideva, Ranak ^ri Some^varadeva, Thakkur ^ri Ramdeva, Thakkur ^ri Bhimsiha
and others and in the presence of all (Muslim) congregations, from Rajakula ^ri Chhada, son of Rajakula

^►ri Nanasiha; Piruz, who by his alliance with the great man Rajakula ^ri Chhada, had become his
associate in meritorious work, caused a mosque to be constructed on that piece of land; for its maintenance,

i.e., for the expenses of oil for lamp, water, preceptor, crier to prayers and a monthly reader (of

the Qur &ari) and also for the payment of expenses of the particular religious festivals according to the
custom of sailors, as well as for the annual white-washing and repairs of rents and defects in the building,
the said Piruz bequeathed three sources of income: firstly, a pallaDika (particulars regarding whose location
and the owner are given in detail); secondly, a danapala belonging to one oil-mill; and thirdly, two shops in

front of the mosque, purchased from Kilhanadeva, Lunasiha, A^adhar and others; Piruz also laid down
that after meeting the expenses as indicated above, the surplus income should be sent to the holy cities of
Mecca and Medina; as regards the management, he desired that the various classes of Muslims such as the
communities of sailors, ship-owners, the clergy (?), the artisans (?), etc., should look after the source of

income and properly maintain the mosque.

The English translation of the first seven lines of the Arabic text as given by Z.A. Desai, is as follows:

1. Allah the Exalted may assign this (reward) to one who builds a house in the path of Allah ^ [This
auspicious mosque was built].

2. on the twenty-seventh of the month of RamaDan, year [sixty-two].

3. and six hundred from migration of the Prophet (23rd July AD 1264), in the reign of the just Sultan and
[die generous king].

4. Abu^M-Fakhr (lit., father of pride), Ruknu^d-Dunya wa^d-Din (lit., pillar of State and Religion),

Mu^izzu^l-Islam wa^M-Muslimm (lit. source of glory for Islam and the Muslims), shadow of Allah in
[the lands],

5. one who is victorious against the enemies, (divinely) supported prince, Abi^n-Nusrat (lit., father of
victory), Mahmud, son of Ahmad, may Allah perpetuate his^

6. and may his affair and prestige be high, in the city of Somnat (i.e. Somnath), may God make it one of the
cities of Islam ad [banish?].

7. infidelity and idols ^ -

Z.A. Desai has noted some differences between the Arabic and the Sanskrit versions. ^For example,^ he

writes, ^>thc Arabic inscription does not give all the details regarding the sources of income, the procedure
for its expenditure, management, etc., which are mentioned at some length in the Sanskrit record. Also, the
Arabic version mentions only the leader of prayer (imam), caller to prayers (mu &addhin ) and the cities of

Mecca and Medina among the beneficiaries^ Likewise, no mention is made of the provision for the
celebration of religious festivals as stated in the Sanskrit record. Further, in the extant portion of the Arabic
record, we do not find mention of the then Vaghela king of Gujarat, Arjunadeva^ On the other hand, the
Arabic version gives some more information regarding the status and position of Piruz (Firuz) and his
father Abu Ibrahim. For example, Firuz is called therein ^the great and respected chief ( sadr ), prince
among sea-men, and king of kings and merchants.^ He is further eulogised as the ^>Sun of Islam and
Muslims, patron of kings and monarchs, shelter of the great and the elite, pride of the age^, etc. Likewise,

his father, Abu Ibrahim, son of Muhammad al-^Iraqi, is also mentioned with such lofty titles as ^the
great chief of fortunate position, protector of Islam and the Muslims, patron of kings and monarchs, prince
among great men of the time, master of generosity and magnanimity^, etc. Needless to say, all these titles
are absent in the Sanskrit version.^

One wonders, however, why the learned epigraphist has overlooked the most glaring difference in the two
versions and tried to cover it up by stating that ^>in the extant portion of the Arabic record, we do not find

mention of the then Vaghela king of Gujarat.^ The record is complete for all practical purposes except for
a few gaps which the epigraphist has filled up creditably with the help of his long experience in reading and
reconstructing such inscriptions. It is difficult to imagine that the name of Arjunadeva, the then Vaghela
king of Gujarat, could have occurred in any of these gaps even if the king was stripped of all his
appellations. Moreover, the name of a Hindu king could have found no place in the scheme followed in the
inscription.

The scheme followed in the inscription is similar to that which we find in thousands of such inscriptions set
up on mosques and other Muslim monuments all over India, before and after AD 1264. The name of the
ruling Muslim monarch with his appellations finds a prominent place in most of these inscriptions. And that
is exactly what we find in the present instance. The only difference is that there being no Muslim monarch
at that time in Gujarat and Gujarat being a Hindu kingdom independent of the Delhi Sultanate, the builder
of the mosque chose the king of Hormuz for showing his solidarity with Dar al-Isam.

That in itself was objectionable enough for a subject of the Hindu king of Gujarat or a resident alien doing
business in Gujarat. The mosque was erected at Prabhas Patan which was situated in the kingdom of
Gujarat and not at a place in the kingdom of Hormuz. But the builder went much farther as, after extolling

the king of Hormuz as ^the source of glory for Islam and the Muslims,^ he prayed fervently that ^may
his affair and prestige be high in the city of Somnat, may Allah make it one of the cities of Islam, and
[banish?] infidelity and idols ^ from it. In other words, he was praying for and looking forward to another
Islamic invasion of Gujarat.

Comparing the Sanskrit and Arabic versions of this inscription, the conclusion is unavoidable that the
Muslim merchant from Hormuz had eschewed carefully from the Sanskrit version what he had included
confidently in the Arabic text. He must have been sure in his mind that no Hindu from Prabhas Patan or
elsewhere was likely to compare the two texts and that even if a Hindu noticed the difference between the
two he was not likely to understand its meaning and purport. At the same time, he was sharing with his co¬
religionists in Gujarat a pious aspiration enjoined on all believers by the tenets of Islam.

There was a similar Muslim settlement at ANhilwaD Patan, the capital of Gujarat under the Chaulukya and
the Vaghela dynasties of Hindu kings. An inscription dated AD 1282 fixed in the wall of a mosque in this
place, records the death of a Muslim merchant in the reign of the Vaghela king Sarangadeva (AD 1274-

96). ^Within our present state of knowledge,^ writes Z.A. Desai, ^this is the only record at Patan which
is dated in the pre-Muslim period of Gujarat, furnishing evidence of the settlement, or at least presence, of
Muslims in the very capital of the Rajput rulers.^ But as he himself admits ^Muslim remains also have

not survived the ravages of time^- in this town. It is quite likely that an inscription similar to that at
Prabhas Patan existed at ANhilwaD Patan also.

Cambay or Khambat, the famous port of Gujarat, abounds in Muslim inscriptions from the time when
Gujarat was a Hindu kingdom. An inscription dated AD 1218 in the reign of the Chaulukya king

Bhimadeva II (AD 1178-1242), records the construction of a Jami^> Masjid and says in the very first
sentence that no one else would be invoked with Allah.- Another inscription dated AD 1232 in the reign of
the same Hindu king records the death of a Muslim and declares, again in the first sentence, that ^Surely,
the true religion with Allah is Islam. ^ A third inscription dated 1284 in the reign of the Vaghela king
Sarangadeva (AD 1274-96), records the death of another Muslim and says that ^whoever disbelieves in
the communications of Allah-then, surely Allah is quick in reckoning. ^ 1

An inscription dated AD 1286-87 records the construction of a mosque at Junagadh in the reign of
Sarangadeva. The record invests the name of the builder, Abu^H Qasim, with high-sounding titles. ^The

titles,^ observes Z.A. Desai, ^may be taken to suggest that Abu^M Qasim, probably an influential
merchant conducting business in that part, was associated in some way with the liaison work between the
state and its Muslim population. The record also indicates that there was a considerable number of Muslim
population residing at Junagadh, which necessitated the building of a prayer house and that some of the

Saurashtra ports used to clear the traffic of Haj pilgrims from Gujarat and possibly from outside too.

Settlements of Arab and other merchants from West Asia were nothing new for Gujarat. These merchants
had established colonies all along the West Coast of India and even farther afield, long before the prophet
of Islam was born. The ports of Gujarat being the most prosperous had exercised a particular attraction for
them. They also travelled in the interior of Gujarat in search of merchandise fit for the markets in Africa,
West Asia and Europe. Mecca itself was an entrepot for trade between India and the Far East on the one
hand and the Roman Empire on the other. At the same time, Indian merchants including those from Gujarat

had established their colonies in most of the coastal towns along the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the
Mediterranean. Neither religion nor politics had ever divided the two merchant fraternities.

All this, however, changed radically after Arabia was conquered by the sword of Islam and every Arab was
forced to become a Muslim on pain of death or permanent exile from his homeland. The Indian colonies
along the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean were attacked by Islamic legionaries, both from
land and sea. Indian merchants, except a few who opted for the new faith, were killed or hounded out from
every place which came under Islamic occupation. Meanwhile, Arab merchants added a new item to their
merchandise-they became salesmen of Islam as well. Arab settlements in India had not suffered the
slightest discomfort or dislocation following from the stormy events in Arabia and the march of Islamic
hordes towards the frontiers of India. Many more people to the west and north of India passed under the
yoke of Islam in the next few decades. Merchants from all these places had also to embrace Islam and make
a common cause with the Arab merchants. A new fraternity known as the ummah or millat of Islam
emerged all along the West Coast of India as also at many places in the interior.

Only a state and a population that did not know or understand the tenets of Islam and the obligations which
those tenets imposed upon every Muslim, could permit these seditious settlements in its leading cities and
ports. There is little doubt that each one of these settlements served as an intelligence network for Islamic
invaders. The missionaries of Islam who took care of the flock might have hoodwinked the Hindus around
them with their pieties. But the faithful understood the message of these missionaries and readily served as
advance guards of the armies of Islam hovering on the borders of Gujarat.

II

It cannot be said that at the time these inscriptions were set up at ANhilwaD Patan, Prabhas Patan,
Khambat, Junagadh and other places, the Hindus of Gujarat had had no taste of what Islam had in store for
them, their women, their children, their cities, their temples, their idols, their priests, and their properties.
The invasion of Ulugh Khan that was to subjugate Gujarat to a long spell of Muslim rule, was the eighth in

a series which started within a few years after the Prophet^s death at Medina in AD 632. Five Islamic
invasions had been mounted on Gujarat before Siddharaja JayasiMha ascended the throne of that kingdom
in AD 1094 - first in AD 636 on Broach by sea; second in AD 732-35 by land; third and fourth in AD 756
and 776 by sea; and fifth by Mahmud of Ghazni in AD 1026. Two others had materialised by the time the
Muslim ship-owner set up his inscription in AD 1264 on a mosque at Prabhas Patan. The sixth invasion

was by Muhammad Ghuri in AD 1178, and the seventh was by Qutbu^d-Din Aibak in AD 1197. The only
conclusion that can be drawn from the evidence is that either the Hindus of Gujarat had a very short
memory or that they did not understand at all the inspiration at the back of these invasions. The temple of
Somnath which stood, after the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni in AD 1026, as a grim reminder of the
character of Islam, had also failed to teach them any worthwhile lesson. Nor did they visualize that the
Muslim settlements in their midst could play a role other than that of carrying on trade and commerce.

The foreign merchants turned Muslims had continued to do business and amass wealth as in the earlier
days. But the leadership in the Muslim settlements had now passed into the hands of the missionaries of
Islam known as Sufis, Walts, Dirvishes and by several other high-sounding names. The sole occupation of
these missionaries was to see the frontiers of Dcir al-Islam extend towards Gujarat. All Muslims in Gujarat
were now expected to serve as the eyes and ears of the Caliphate which had started on a career of
imperialist aggression in all directions. Gujarat had had a taste of this aggression earlier than any other part
of India. As the armies of Islam marched towards the land frontiers of India in Makran and Seistan, Indian
ports on the West Coast became targets for the newly created Islamic navy.

Legends about Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud of Ghazni had led twelve to seventeen expeditions to India, according to different accounts. He
destroyed many temples and smashed or burnt numerous idols wherever he was victorious over Hindu

resistance. But what made him into a myth was his expedition to Somnath. ^The destruction of the temple

of Somnath,^ observes Muhammad Nazim, ^was looked upon as the crowning glory of Islam over
idolatry, and Sultan Mahmud as the champion of the Faith, received the applause of all the Muslim
world. Poets vied with each other in extolling the real or supposed virtues of the idol-breaker and the prose
writers of later generations paid their tribute of praise to him by making him the hero of numerous

ingenious stories. ■4^—

One such story was told by Shykh Faridu^d-Din ATTar, the renowned ^mystic poet^ in

his ManTiqu ^h-Tair (Conference of Birds). 4>In this story, ^ writes Muhmmad Nazim, ^the Sultan is

made to show his preference for the title of idol-breaker to that of idol-seller.^ While rejecting the offer of
the BrahmaNas to ransom the idol of Somnath with its weight in gold, Mahmud is supposed to have said,
❖I am afraid that on the Day of ludgment when all the idolaters are brought into the presence of Allah, He
would say, ^Bring Adhar and Mahmud together one was idol-maker, the other idol-seller^.^ Adhar or
Ezra, the uncle of Abraham, according to the Qur^an, made his living by carving idols. ^The Sultan,^
according to ATTar, ^then ordered a fire to be lighted round it. The idol burst and 20 mantis of precious
stones poured out from its inside. The Sultan said, ^►This (fire) is what Lat— (by which name ATTar calls
Somnath) deserves; and that (the precious stones) is my guerdon from my God.^>—

Another story is told in the Futuhu &s-Salatm. is stated,^ summarises Muhammad Nazim, ^that
shortly after the birth of Mahmud, the astrologers of India divined that a prince had been born at Ghazna
who would demolish the temple of Somnath. They therefore persuaded Raja Jaipal to send an embassy to
Mahmud while he was still a boy, offering to pay him a large sum of money if he promised to return the
idol to the Hindus whenever he captured it. When Mahmud captured Somnath the Brahmins reminded him
of his promise and demanded the idol in compliance with it. Mahmud did not like either to return the idol
or to break his promise. He therefore ordered the idol to be reduced to lime by burning and when, on the
following day, the Brahmins repeated their demand, he ordered them, to be served with betel-leaves which
had been smeared with the lime of the idol. When the Brahmins had finished the chewing of the betel-
leaves they again repeated their demand, on which the Sultan told them that they had the idol in their

mouths.^— As we would see at a later stage in this study, this story inspired some other Sultans to do
actually what Mahmud was supposed to have done in the imagination of a story-teller.

Finally, we have a story which presents the Muslims as a persecuted community in the Hindu kingdom of
Gujarat and Mahmud ^>s invasion as a punitive expedition. The Raja of Gujarat, we are told, used to

sacrifice a Muslim everyday ^Hn front of the idol of Somnath.^ So Prophet Muhammad appeared in a
dream to Hajji Muhammad of Mecca and told him to go to the rescue of the Prophet's beloved people in
Gujarat. The Hindu Raja tried to kill the Hajji but did not succeed. ^The Hajji,the story goes on, ^now

invited Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna to come with his army and stop this iniquity.^ The Sultan came,
reduced the idol of Somnath to powder which he fed to Raja Kunwar Ray in betel-leaves. The deputy he
appointed at Somnatha before his return to Ghazni ^demolished the temple and set fire to it. Q—

The story, of course, seeks psychological compensation for an unprovoked aggression against a king and a
people who had been kind to the Muslims settled in Gujarat. We hear similar stories about many other
places which were invaded by the armies of Islam and which had provided protection to Muslim

settlements, particularly the Sufis. But at the same time, it betrays the secret that the Muslim community in
Gujarat had invited Mahmud to invade the kingdom and destroy the temple of Somnath. Professor

Mohammad Habib was telling this truth when he wrote that ^>the far-flung campaigns of Sultan Mahmud
would have been impossible without an accurate knowledge of trade routes and local resources, which was
probably obtained from Muslim merchants.^

Sidhpur, like many other famous Hindu cities, is a small town today. But it reminds us of the days when it
was the most important place of Hindu pilgrimage in North Gujarat.

The Rudramahalaya, like many other magnificent Hindu temples, is a heap of ruins at present. But it
reminds us of a past when it was one of the most magnificent temples ever built in India.

The Jami ^ Masjid, like many other historical mosques, stands as a dilapidated structure now. But it
reminds us of a regime under which it symbolised the might of Islam.

The destruction of the Rudramahalaya at Sidhpur in Gujarat was not an isolated event; it was only a link in
the long chain which stretches from the middle of the seventh century, when the first Islamic invaders
stepped on the soil of India, to the closing years of the eighteenth century when Tipu Sultan led his
expedition into Malabar. The vast land which is spread from Transoxiana, Khurasan and Seistan in the
West to Assam in the East, and from Sinkiang in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South, is literally littered

with the ruins of temples belonging to all Hindu sects- Bauddha, Jaina, ^aiva, ^akta VaishNava, and the
rest.

The Jami ^ Masjid at Sidhpur is not the only mosque built on the site and from the debris of a demolished
Hindu temple. There are innumerable mosques all over India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the
neighbouring lands towards the north-west which have, embedded in their masonry, some epigraphical or
sculptural or architectural evidence that they were places of Hindu worship in the past. Quite a few of these
mosques have failed to withstand the ravages of time and are in ruins at present. But quite a few are still in
use by the worshippers of Allah.

Conclusion

The story of Gujarat was repeated all over India in wave after wave of Islamic invasions from the middle of
the seventh century onwards. Hindus fought the invaders at every step and defeated them quite often. But
they failed to study and understand the theology of Islam, and the aspirations of Muslims living in their
midst. The invaders continued to forge ahead for several centuries. The situation is the same today.
Afghanistan, North-West Frontier Province, Punjab, Sindh, and East Bengal have been lost. No one can say
how things will turn out in Kashmir. Muslims inside India continue to create street riots on an ascending
scale. But the Hindus have refused to learn, either from history or from contemporary experience.

Footnotes:

1 Arabic Inscriptions of the Rajput period from Gujarat ^,Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian
Supplement, 1961, pp. 1-2. It is, of course, his personal view that Hindu tolerance towards
Muslims was inspired in part by profits derived from foreign trade.

2 A principality in the Persian Gulf.

- Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1961, pp. 11-12.

- Ibid., p. 14.

- Ibid., p. 12.

- Ibid., p. 16.

I Ibid., p. 15.

- Ibid., p. 6.

- Ibid., p. 8

— Ibid., p. 17.

— Ibid., p. 18.

— Muhammad Nazim. The Lift and Times of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna, second edition, 1971, p.
219.

— Al-Lat was a Goddess of the pre-Islamic Arabs. Prophet Muhammad had got her idols
destroyed. She was seen by Islamic iconoclasts in many Hindu idols.

— Muhammad Nazim, op. cit., p. 221.

II Ibid., pp. 221-22.

— Ibid. pp. 222-24. The story is based on a ballad written by some Muslim in Gujarati language in
AH 1216 (AD 1800). The ballad was summarised by Major J.W. Watson in Indian Antiquary,
Vol. VIII (June, 1879), pp. 153-61.

— Quoted by Ram Gopal Misra in his Indian Resistance to Early Muslim Invaders upto AD 1206, Meerut

City, 1983, p. 101.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE MARXIST HISTORIANS

What was uncovered at Sidhpur only to be covered up again was verily the tip of an iceberg which remains
submerged in hundreds of histories written by Muslim historians, in Hindu literary sources which are
slowly coming to light, in the accounts of foreign travellers who visited India and the neighbouring lands
during medieval and modern times, and above all in the reports of the archaeological surveys carried out in
all those countries which had been for long the cradles of Hindu culture. No systematic effort has yet been
made by scholars to see the iceberg emerge from the dark depths and tell its own story in a simple and
straight-forward manner. Rare is the historian or archaeologist who had related this vandalism to the

theology of Islam based on the Qur^an and the Sunnah of the Prophet. On the contrary, the subject has
been politicised by the votaries of Secularism who become hysterical by the very mention of the untold
story. Politicians in power have made and are making frantic efforts to suppress every tip of the iceberg
which chances to surface in spite, of the conspiracy to keep it out of sight.

Some of these politicians are masquerading as academicians and selling far-fetched and fantastic apologies
for the havoc caused by Islamic iconoclasm. The following story illustrates what happens whenever the
subject comes into the open and invites attention.

One day in August, 1986, The Times of India printed on its front page the photographs of two stones
carrying defaced carvings of some Hindu deities. There was a short statement beneath the photographs that
the stones had been found by the Archaeological Survey of India in course of repairs to the Qutb Minar at
Delhi. The stones, according to the Survey, had been built into a wall with the carved faces turned inwards.
But the daily had dropped this part of the news.

Some correspondence cropped up in the letters-to-the-editor column of the newspaper. The majority of
writers congratulated the editor for breaking a conspiracy of silence regarding publication of a certain type
of historical facts in the mass media. A few writers regretted that a news item like that should have been
published in a prestigious daily in an atmosphere of growing communal tension. None of the writers raised
the question or speculated as to how those stones happened to be there. None of them drew any inference
from the fact that the Qutb Minar stands near the Quwwat al-Islam Masjid which, according to an
inscription on its eastern gate, was built from the materials of twenty-seven Hindu temples.

The correspondence would have closed after a few days but for another photograph which was front-paged
by The Times of India dated September 15, 1986. It depicted the Idgah built by Aurangzeb on the site of

the Ke^avadeva temple at Mathura and gave the news that a committee had been formed by some leading

citizens for the liberation of what is known to be KrishNa^s place of birth. A few more letters for and
against the photograph and the news item were published in the newspaper. None of them was well-
informed. None of them threw any light on what was the Ke^vadeva temple and why and when
Aurangzeb converted it into a mosque.

But even these meagre and ill-informed comments were too much for a dozen professors from Delhi. They
wrote a long letter of protest which was published in The Times of India on October 2, 1986. The letter is
being reproduced in full because it reveals the line laid down by a well-entrenched clique which has come
to control all institutions concerned with the researching, writing and teaching of history in this country.
They said:

^ Sir-We have noted with growing concern a recent tendency in The Times of India to give a communal
twist to news items and even to editorial comments. An example of this is a report from Mathura dated 15
September and entitled, ^ Krishna ^>s Birthplace after Aurangzeb.^ It evoked considerable
correspondence some of which, as could be expected, was markedly communal in tone.

^ Your readers should know that historical analysis and interpretations involve more than a mere listing of
dates with an eye to pious sentiments. The Dera Keshava Rai temple was built by Raja Bir Singh Deo
Bundela during Jahangir^s reign. This large temple soon became extremely popular and acquired
considerable wealth. Aurangzeb had this temple destroyed, took the wealth as booty and built an Idgah on
the site. His actions might have been politically motivated as well, for at the time when the temple was
destroyed he faced problems with the Bundelas as well as Jat rebellions in the Mathura region. It should be

remembered that many Hindu temples were untouched during Aurangzeb ^s reign and even some new
ones built. Indeed, what is really required is an investigation into the theory that both the Dera Keshava Rai
temple and the Idgah were built on the site of a Buddhist monastery which appears to have been destroyed.

^ Your news report also gives credence to the suggestion that this site was the birthplace of Krishna. This
is extraordinary to say the least, when even the historicity of the personality is in question. It creates the
kind of confusion such as has been created, probably deliberately, over the question of the birthplace of

Rama in the matter of the Ramajanam-bhumi. A Persian text of the mid-nineteenth century states that the
Babari mosque was adjacent to the Sita-ka-rasoi-ghar and was known as the Rasoi-Sita mosque and
adjoined the area associated with the birthplace of Rama. It would be worth enquiring whether there is
reliable historical evidence of a period prior to the nineteenth century for this association of a precise
location for the birthplace of Rama. Furthermore such disputes as there were between Hindus and Muslims
in this area upto the nineteenth century were not over the Babari mosque but the totally different site of
Hanuman-baithak.

❖it cannot be denied that acts of intolerance have been committed in India by followers of all religions.

But these acts have to be understood in their context. It is a debasement of history to distort these events for
present day communal propaganda.

❖The statement in your news report that the site at Mathura is to be ❖liberated❖ and handed over to the

❖rightful owners^ as the birthplace of Krishna raises the question of the limits to the logic of restoration
of religious sites (and this includes the demand for the restoration to worshippers of disused mosques now
under the care of the Archaeological Survey of India). How far back do we go? Can we push this to the

restoration of Buddhist and Jaina monuments destroyed by Hindus? Or of pre-Hindu animist shrines? ❖

The letter was signed by Romila Thapar, Muzaffar Alam, Bipan Chandra, R. Champaka Lakshmi, S.
Bhattacharya, H. Mukhia, Suvira Jaiswal, S. Ratnagar, M.K. Palat, Satish Saberwal, S. Gopal and Mridula
Mukherjee. Most of them are minor fries who merely lent their names to the protest letter. But four of
them, namely, Romila Thapar, Bipan Chandra, H. Mukhia and S. Gopal are well-known as Marxist
historians. It is for future scholarship to judge the worth of their work in the field of historical research.
What is relevant to our present purpose is that the prestige which they have come to enjoy in our times,
succeeded in suppressing what might have been an informative and interesting debate in The Times of
India.

Quite a few readers of The Times of India including several professors of equal rank wrote letters
challenging the facts as well as the logic of the Marxist professors. But none of these letters was published
in the letters-to-the-editor column of the newspaper. After a fortnight, the daily published some nondescript

letters from its lay readers and announced that the ❖controversy has been closed ❖. It was a curious
statement, to say the least. The controversy had only started with the publication of the long letter from the
Marxist professors, accusing The Times of India of spreading ❖communalism^ and making a number of
sweeping statements. The other side was waiting for its rejoinders to appear in print. The Times of
India would have been only fair to itself and its readers to let the other side have its say. But it developed

cold feet. Perhaps it was not prepared to get branded as ❖communalist^ for the sake of ❖a few facts
from the dead past.^ Perhaps it was in a hurry to retrieve its reputation which had been ❖compromised❖

by the publication of the ❖controversial photographs. ❖ Whatever the reason or calculation, the Marxist
professors walked away with victory in a match which the other side was not permitted to contest, leaving
an impression on the readers of the newspaper that the Marxist case was unassailable.

It would, therefore, be worthwhile to examine the Marxist case and find out if it has any worth.

Incidentally, the Marxist historians have equipped the Muslim historians as well with what is now
considered to be a fool-proof apologetics vis-a-vis the destruction of Hindu temples during Muslim rule in
India. An examination of the Marxist case in this context, therefore, constitutes an examination of the
Muslim case as well.

We are leaving aside die Marxist accusation of ❖communalism^ againstTVie Times of India. Marxist of
all hues have a strong nose for smelling communalism in the faintest expression of Indian nationalism

which they have fought with great vigour and vigilance ever since they appeared on the Indian scene in the
twenties of this century. Their writings and doings during nearly seven decades testify to the type of
patriotism they preach and practise.

We are also overlooking the ex-cathedra tone which characterises their pronouncements regarding
interpretation of history. The tone comes quite easily to those who have enjoyed power and prestige for
long and, therefore, begun to believe that they have a monopoly over truth and wisdom. We shall confine
our examination to what they have stated as facts and what they claim to be the correct interpretations of
those facts.

The Ke^avadeva Tradition at Mathura

It is true that the temple of Ke^avadeva which was destroyed and replaced with an Idgah by Aurangzeb,
was built by Bir Singh Deva Bundela in the reign of Jahangir. But he had not built it on a site of his own
choosing. An age-old tradition- had continued to identify the KaTra mound (on which Aurangzeb ^s idgah
stands at present) with the spot where KaMsa had imprisoned the parents of ^ri KrishNa, and where the

latter was born. The same tradition had also remembered with anguish that an earlier Ke^avadeva temple
which stood on this spot had been destroyed by an earlier Islamic iconoclast.

Romila Thapar has herself testified to this tradition about Ke^avadeva. Referring to descriptions of the

Mathura region by Greek historians, she writes, ^The identification of Sourasenoi, Methora and
Iobares/Jomanes do not present any problem. But the identification of Cleisobora or Carisobora or the other
variants suggested such as Carysobores remain uncertain.... The reading of Cleisobora as KRSNpura has
not yielded any firm identification. A possible connection could be suggested with Keshavadeva on the
basis of this being an alternative name for KRSNa and there being archaeological evidence of a settlement

at the site of Keshavadeva during the Mauryan period.^'

Dr. V.S. Agrawala is well-known for his study of the sculptures and inscriptions found on the ancient sites
of Mathura and around. He was Curator of the museum at Mathura as well as that at Lucknow. He makes
the following observations:

1. ^Mathura on the Yamuna is famous as the birthplace of KRishNa. It was the scat of the Bhagvata
religion from about second century BC to fifth Century

2. ^Brahmanical shrines of Mathura began to be built quite early as shown by the discovery of an

epigraph, viz. the Mora Well-Inscription as well as other records like the lintel of the time of ^oDasa. It
was in the reign of Chandragupta Vikramaditya that a magnificent temple of VishNu was built at the site of
KaTra Ke^avadeva^ -

3. ^The rich store of Brahmanical images in Mathura Museum is specially noteworthy. The formulation of
these images was a natural result of the strong Bhagavata movement of which Mathura had been the
radiating centre from about the first century BC^> The chronological priority in the making of Brahmanical
images to that of the Buddha should be taken as a settled fact on the basis of an image of Balarama from

JansuTi village. It is definitely in the style of the Auriga period. Patanjali also writing in the same age
informs us of the existence of shrines dedicated of Rama and Ke^ava i.e., Balarama and KrishNa^^

An inscription of Svami MahakSatrapa ^oDasa recovered by Pandit Radha Krishna in 1913 testifies that a
temple dedicated to Vasudeva existed at Mathura in the first century BC. ^From an examination of the

stone, ^ writes Professor H. Luders, ^>.VIr. Ram Prasad Chanda came to the conclusion, which
undoubtedly is correct, that the epigraph was originally incised on a square pillar which was afterwards cut
lengthwise through the inscribed side into two halves and turned into door jambs. ^-Scholars have differed
regarding the location of the temple mentioned in the epigraph. The latest to study and interpret the
inscriptions of ^oDasa is Professor R.C. Sharma. ^Luders thought,^ he writes, ^that it belonged to the
Bhagvata shrine of Mora about 12 kms to the west of Mathura. But V.S. Agrawala opined that it must have
originated from the site of KaTra, the famous Bhagvata spot. We shall see that the conjecture of Agrawala

carries weight^ The upper part of the inscription is corroded and five lines cannot be made out properly.
The remaining part is better preserved and it can be translated as: ^At the great temple of Lord Vasudeva,
a gateway and a railing was erected by Vasu son of Kau^iki Pak^aka. May Lord Vasudeva be pleased
and promote the welfare of Svami Mahaksatrapa ^oDasa. ^ This is the earliest archaeological evidence to

prove the tradition of the building of KRSNa^s shrine.^- It is possible that some more inscriptions may
surface in future and take the tradition of KrishNa-worship at Mathura still farther in the past.

Another inscription found at the same site points to the same tradition prevailing in the seventh and eighth
centuries AD. ^ A fragment of an inscribed stone slab,^ writes Dr. D.C. Sircar, ^>was discovered in 1954
at Katra Keshavdev within Mathura city, headquarters of the District of that name in Uttar Pradesh. It was
presented by the Shri Krishna Janmabhumi Trust, Mathura, to the local Archaeological Museum.^ After

describing the size of the slab and the style of writing that has survived on it, he continues, ^The
characters resemble those of such inscriptions of the seventh and eighth centuries belonging to the Western
parts of Northern India as the Banskhera plate of Harsh (AD 606-47), the Kundesvar inscription (vs 718 =
AD 661) of Aprajita, the Jhalarpatan inscription (vs 746 = AD 689) of DurgagaNa, the Kudarkot
inscription of about the second half of the seventh century, the Nagar inscription (vs 741 = AD 684) of

Dhanika, and the Kanaswa inscription (vs 795 = AD 738) of ^ivagaNa. The inscription was composed
^Hn adoration of a god whose epithets kal-anjana-rajah-puhja-dyuti, (mci)havaraha-
rupa and jangama have only been preserved^. It leaves ^no doubt that the reference is to the god VishNu
since the expression mahavaraha-rupacertainty speaks of the Boar incarnation of the deity. The hero of
the pra^asti is a king named DiNDiraja of the Maurya dynasty. ^Ht therefore seems, ^ concludes Dr.

Sircar, ^that the king performed the deed in question in the chain of many other pious works and at the
cost of a large sum of money. The purpose seems to have been to put garlands around the head of a deity
whose name seems to read ^auri (i.e. VishNu; cf. the Vaishnavite adoration in verse 1).^—

That Bir Singh Dev Bundela^s choice of the site was not arbitrary is proved by another inscription
discovered by Dr. A. Fuhrer in 1889 ^from the excavations made by railway contractors at the Ke^ava

mound. - It is a long pro. &cisti in Sanskrit stating that ^Jajja, who long carried the burden of

the varga together with the committee of trustees ( gosThijana ) built a large temple of VishNu brilliantly

white and touching the clouds. ^ 1 = The colophon in prose informs us that thepra &asti was composed by

^>two ^ wise4> men, Pala and Kuladdhara (?)^> and ^incised by the mason Somala in SaMvat 1207 on
the full moon day of Karttika, during the reign of his glorious majesty, the supreme king of kings,
Vijayapala.^ The king cannot be identified with certainty. But SaMvat 1207 corresponds to AD 1149-

51. ^This king,^ concludes the epigraphist, ^certainly was the ruler of Mathura at this period, and Jajja
was one of his vassals. This much is absolutely certain, and the inscription also settles the date of at least
one of the temples buried under the Ke^ava mound. ^

Why Aurangzeb Destroyed the Temple

There is no substance in the Marxist statement that the temple was destroyed because it had ^acquired
considerable wealth^ which attracted Aurangzeb ^>s greed for booty or that the destruction of the temple
was ^politically motivated as well, for at the time when the temple was destroyed he faced problems with

the Bundela as well as the Jat rebellions in the Mathura region.^ We have only to refer to contemporary
records to see how these explanations are wide of the mark.

The temple of Ke^avadeva was destroyed in January, 1670. This was done in obedience to an
imperial firman proclaimed by Aurangzeb on April 9, 1669. On that date, according to Ma 4>sir-i-
Alamgtri , ^The Emperor ordered the governors of all provinces to demolish the schools and temples of the

infidels and strongly put down their teaching and religious practices.^— Jadunath Sarkar has cited several
sources regarding the subsequent destruction of temples which went on all over the country, and right up to
January 1705, two years before Aurangzeb died. 1

None of the instances cited by him make any reference whatsoever to booty or the political problem of
rebellion. The sole motive that stands out in every case is religious zeal. Our Marxist professors will find it
very hard, if not impossible, to discover economic and/or political motives for all these instances of temple

destruction. The alibis that they have invented in defence of Aurangzeb ^s destruction of the Ke^avadeva
temple are, therefore, only plausible, if not downright fraudulent. It is difficult to believe that the learned
professors did not know of Aurangzeb firmandated April 9, 1669 and the large-scale destruction of
Hindu temples that followed. If they did not, one wonders what sort of professors they are, and by what
right they pronounce pontifically on this subject.

Putting the Cart Before the Horse

The veneer of plausibility also comes off when we look into the chronology of Hindu rebellions in the
Mathura region. We find no evidence that Aurangzeb was faced with any Hindu rebellion in that region

when he destroyed the Ke^avadeva temple. There was no Bundela uprising in 1670 when the

Ke^avadeva temple was destroyed. The first Bundela rebellion led by Jujhar Singh had been put down by
December, 1635 in the reign of Shah Jahan when that Rajput prince was killed and the ladies of his house¬
hold were forced into the Mughal harem. The second Bundela rebellion had ended with the suicide of

Champat Rai in October, 1661. The third Bundela rebellion was still in the future. Champat Rai^s son,
Chhatrasal, had joined the imperial army sent against Shivaji in 1671 when Shivaji drew his attention to
what was being done to the Hindus by Aurangzeb. It may also be pointed out that our professors stretch the
Mathura region too far when they include Bundelkhand in it.

The professors have put the cart before the horse by holding the Jat rebellion in the Mathura region
responsible for the destruction of the Ke^vadeva temple. The Jats had risen in revolt under the leadership
of Gokla (Gokul) after and not before Aurangzeb issued his firman of April, 1969 ordering destruction of
Hindu temples everywhere. This highly provocative firman had come as a climax to several other
happenings in the Mathura region. The Hindus of this region had been victims of Muslim high-handedness
for a long time, particularly in respect of their women. Murshid Quit Khan, the faujddr of Mathura who

died in 1638, was notorious for seizing ^all their most beautiful women^ and forcing them into his

harem. ^H)n the birthday of Krishna,^ narrates Ma &sir-ul-Umara, ^a vast gathering of Hindu men and
women takes place at Govardhan on the Jumna opposite Mathura. The Khan, painting his forehead and
wearing dhoti like a Hindu, used to walk up and down in the crowd. Whenever he saw a woman whose
beauty filled even the moon with envy, he snatched her away like a wolf pouncing upon a flock, and
placing her in the boat which his men kept ready on the bank, he sped to Agra. The Hindu [for shame]

never divulged what had happened to his daughter.

Another notorious faujddr of Mathura was Abdu^n Nabi Khan. He plundered the people unscrupulously
and amassed great wealth. But his worst offence was the pulling down of the foremost Hindu temple in the
heart of Mathura and building a Jami^ Masjid on its site. This he did in AD 1660-61. Soon after, in 1665,
Aurangzeb imposed a pilgrim tax on the Hindus. In 1668, he prohibited celebration of all Hindu festivals,
particularly Holi and Diwali. The Jats who rightly regarded themselves as the defenders of Hindu hounour
were no longer in a mood to take it lying.

It is true that the capture and murder of Gokul with fiendish cruelty and the forcible conversion of his
family members to Islam, coincided with the destruction of the Ke^avadeva temple. But there is no reason
to suppose that the temple would have been spared if there was no Jat rebellion. There were no rebellions in
the vicinity of many other temples which were destroyed at that time or at a later stage. The temples were
destroyed in obedience to the imperial firman and for no other reason.

The Logic of the Argument

The real worth of the defence of Aurangzeb put up by the professors becomes evident if we lead their
argument for economic and political motives to its logical conclusion. The Ke^vadeva temple was not the
only place of worship which was wealthy. Many mosques and dargahs and other places of Muslim worship
were bursting with riches in Aurangzeb^>s time. But he is not known to have sought booty in any one of
them. There were several rebellions led by Muslims against the rule of Aurangzeb. Some of these
rebellions had their centres in places of Muslim worship. Yet Aurangzeb is not known to have destroyed
any one of these places before or after suppressing the rebellions. So, even if we accept the economic and
political motives for the destruction of Hindu temples, an irreducible minimum of the religious motive

remains. That alone can explain the erection of an Idgah on the site of the Ke^avadeva temple and taking
away the idols to Agra for being trodden under foot by the faithful.

The Argument about Historicity

Now we can take up the last point by raising which the professors seem to clinch their case in defence of
Aurangzeb. They question the historicity of ^ri KrishNa and dismiss him as a mythological character who
can have no place of birth. The implication is that Hindus are getting unduly excited by associating the
Ke^avadeva temple with the birth-place of ^ri KrishNa and should cool down after discovering that the

temple was built by a Rajput protege of Jahangir, at a nondescript place and on a much later date. This is a
strange argument, to say the least. It means that the sanctity of a religious place declines in proportion to its
dissociation from a historical personality. One wonders if the professors would extend the logic to
Muslim ziarats and qadam-sharifs which are associated with characters who cannot be traced in any
history. Some of these ziarats have been built on the sites and from the debris of Hindu temples according

to unimpeachable archaeological evidence. The qadam-sharifs are without a doubt the Buddha^s feet
carved in the early phases of Buddhism and worshipped in subsequent ages by the Buddhists as well as the
Hindus. The Ka^ba at Mecca was taken over by Muhammad because, according to him, it was built by
Abraham in the first instance and occupied by the polytheists at a later stage. Should the Muslims take the
desecration or demolition of the Ka^ba less seriously if they are told that Abraham has never figured in
human history? There is no evidence that he did.

Of course, ^ri KrishNa is a historical character which the professors can find out for themselves by
reading Bankim Chandra, ^>ri Aurobindo and many other savants who have, unlike them, studied the
subject. But that is not the point. The ^ri KrishNa for whom the Hindus really care is a far greater figure
than the ^ri KrishNa of history. What they really worship is the ^ri KrishNa of mythology. There are
many temples and places of pilgrimage all over India associated with this mythological ^>ri KrishNa. So

are the various &aktipiThas associated with the limbs of Parvati scattered by ^iva during the course of his
anguish over her death. So are the various jyotirlihgas and most other places of Hindu pilgrimage. In fact, a
majority of the renowned places of Hindu worship and pilgrimage have only mythology in support of their
sanctity. Are the professors telling the Hindus that the desecration or destruction of these places should
cause no heart-burn to them because the characters associated with these places are drawn from mythology,
and that an iconoclast is badly needed in every case for blowing up the myth?

The Birth-Place of ^ri Rama

Having cleared the ^confusion^ over the birth-place of ^ri KrishNa, the professors proceed to clear a
similar ^confusion ^ regarding the birth-place of ^>ri Rama. We are ignoring their insinuation that the

second ^confusion^ has been created ^probably deliberately^. The insinuation has its source in
political polemics and not in academic propriety to which professors are expected to adhere. We are also
ignoring the implication that ^ri Rama being another mythological character is not entitled to a place of
birth because, mercifully, the professors concede that a place called Rdma-janmabhumi did exist at
Ayodhya, and that it did not occupy the site of a Buddhist monastery demolished by the devotees of
Rama. We shall only examine the point they have raised, namely, that the mosque known as the Babari
Masjid does not stand on the site of the Rdma-janmabhumi.

The professor have referred us to a ^Persian text of the mid-nineteenth century^ which Estates that the
Babari mosque was adjacent to the Sita-ka-rasoi-ghar and was known as Rasoi-Sita mosque and adjoined
the area associated with the birthplace of Rama^>. What they mean in plain language is that the real Babari
Masjid, also known as Rasoi-Sita Masjid, has disappeared or been demolished by the Hindus at some stage,
and that there is no substance in the current Hindu claim that die mosque known as the Babari Masjid at
present stands on the site of a temple built on thtRdma-janmabhumi.

This contention could have been examined satisfactorily if the professors had named the Persian text and
told us whether, according to it, the Rasoi-Sita Masjid stood on the right or left of the Sita-ka-rasoi-ghar.

We can, therefore, thank the professors only for admitting that the Muslims did raise a mosque on a spot
which, we may be permitted to infer, was also sacred for the Hindus. But, at the same time, we cannot help

wondering why the professors are at pains to pin-point the exact spot where ^ri Rama was born instead of
conceding that the temple built in his memory must have occupied a large area. Maps of the area in which
the mosque now known as the Babari Masjid stands, show clearly that the site of the Sita-ka-rasoi-ghar is
adjacent to the mosque. Is it not possible that what is now known as the Babari Masjid was also known as
Rasoi-Sita Masjid in the mid-nineteenth century? Moreover, the mosque in dispute has been named as the
Babari Masjid by the Muslims and not by the Hindus.

Thus the Persian text dragged in by the professors creates complications rather than clear the
^confusion ^ which, according to the professors, exists in the Hindu mind. On the face of it, it looks like a
deliberate attempt to side-track the issues involved. The suspicion gets strengthened when the professors go
on to suggest that prior to the nineteenth century the dispute was not over the Rama-janmabhumi but over

^the totally different site of H an u m an-baithak. ^ No doubt the suggestion admits, although inadvertently,
that there was a Hanuman temple at Ayodhya which also the Muslims had converted into a mosque. But we
are trying to straighten the record regarding a mosque standing on the site of the Rama-
janmabhumi temple.—

Finally, their thesis is that ^acts of intolerance have been committed in India by followers of all

religions.^ Having found it difficult to hide the atrocities committed by Islam in India, they have invented
stories of Buddhist, Jain and Animist temples destroyed by the Hindus. We shall examine these stories in
some detail at a later stage in this study. Here it should suffice to say that in their effort to whitewash Islam
they have ended by blackening Hinduism. The exercise is devoid of all academic scruples and is no more
than a neurotic exhibition of their deep-seated anti-Hindus animus.—

The Appropriate Context

What is most amazing about our Marxist professors, however, is that while they are never tired of
preaching that facts of history should be placed in their proper context, they have studiously managed to
miss the only context which explains simply and satisfactorily the destruction of Hindu temples by Islamic

invaders. Our reference here is to the theology of Islam systematised on the basis of the Qu^ran and the
Sunnah of the Prophet. This theology lays down loud and clear that it is a pious act for Muslims to destroy
the temples of the infidels and smash their idols. Conversion of infidel temples into mosques wherever
practicable, is a part of the same doctrine. We have presented this theology at some length in Section IV.

Destruction of idols and conversion of infidel places of worship into mosques became obligatory on
Muslim conquerors and kings whenever they got the opportunity. The plunder which the iconoclasts
obtained from infidel places of worship was not the main motive; that was only an additional bounty which
Allah had promised to bestow on them for performing pious deeds and earning religious merit. Those who
want to know the relevant prescriptions of Islam should read the orthodox biographies of the Prophet, the
orthodox collections of Hadith, and the authentic commentaries by recognised imams rather than swallow

old wive^s tales told by Marxist professors.

This is the simple and straightforward explanation why Muslim invaders of India destroyed Hindu temples
on a large scale and converted many of them into mosques. The economic and political motives, invented
by the Marxists, are not only far-fetched but also do not explain the destruction and/or conversion of
numerous temples which contained no riches, and where no conspiracy could be conceived.

The Muslim apologists who have been in a hurry to borrow the Marxist explanation do not know what they
are doing. The explanation converts Islam into a convenient cover for brigandage and the greatest Muslim

heroes into mere bandits. In the mouth of those Muslims who know what their religion prescribes vis-a-vis
infidel places of worship, this apologetics is dishonest as well. They should have the honesty to admit the
tenets of the religion to which they subscribe. It is a different matter whether those tenets can be defended
on any spiritual or moral grounds. That is a subject on which Islam will have to do some introspection and
hold a dialogue with Hinduism some day.

Finally, the professors want us to remember that ^many Hindu temples were untouched during
Aurangzeb^s reign, and even some new ones were built^. The underlying assumption is that

Aurangzeb^s writ ran in every nook and corner of India, all through his reign. But the assumption is
unwarranted. There is plenty of evidence in Persian histories themselves that there were regions in which
Hindu resistance to Aurangzeb^s terror was too strong to be overcome even by repeated expeditions. It is
no credit to Aurangzeb that the Hindus in those regions were able to save their old temples and also build
some new ones. The Hindus all over north India were up in arms against the Muslim rule during

Aurangzeb long absence in the South. If they built some new temples, it was in spite of Aurangzeb. The
subject needs a detailed scrutiny on the basis of concrete cases located in space and time. It must, however,
be pointed out that the professors bid goodbye to all sense of proportion when they gloat on the few
temples that survived or were newly built while they forget the large number of temples that were
destroyed. They also forget that, in the present context, exceptions only prove the rule.

Footnotes:

1 The Varaha PuraNa says, The is no God like Ke^ava and no BrahmaNas like those of Mathura.

= Romila Thapar, ^The Early History of Mathura upto and including the Mauryan period^
in Mathura: The Cultural Heritage, edited by Doris Meth Sriniwasan, New Delhi, 1989. p. 15. It
is her habit to speak with two tongues - one when she is in the midst of scholars who know the
facts, and another when she functions as a professional Hindu-baiter.

- V.S. Agarawala, Masterpieces of Mathura Sculpture, Varanasi, 1965. p. 1.

- Ibid., P.2.

5 Ibid., p. 11.

-Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIV (1937-38), New Delhi, Reprint, 1982, p. 208.

1 R.C. Sharma, ^New Inscriptions from Mathura in Mathura: The Cultural Heritage, op. cit.,
p. 309.

-Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXII (1957-58), New Delhi, Reprint, 1987, p. 206.

2 Ibid., p. 208.

- Ibid., pp. 208-209.

— Epigraphia Indica, Vol. I (1892), New Delhi, Reprint, 1983, p. 287.

— Ibid., p. 288.

-Ibid., 289.

— Quoted by Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit., p. 186.

— Ibid., pp. 186-89.

— Quoted by Ibid., pp. 193-94. The Jat rebellion is dealt with in detail by Girish Chandra Dwivedi
in his book. The Jats: Their Role in the Mughal Empire , New Delhi, 1979.

— The Hindu case is presented in two publications of Voice of India - Ram Janmabhoomi Vs.
Babri Masjid, by Koenraad Elst (1990) and History Versus Casuistry: Evidence of the
Ramajanmabhoomi Mandir presented by the Vishva Hindu Parishad to the Government of India
in December-January 1990-91 (1991).

— See Appendix 4 for the Marxist proposition of placing Hinduism on the same level as Islam.

CHAPTER FIVE
SPREADING THE BIG LIE

According to the Marxist professors ❖ what is really required is an investigation into the theory that both
the Dera Keshav Rai temple and the Idgah were built on the site of a Buddhist monastery which appears to
have been destroyed. ❖ Thank God, they have suggested it only as a theory; elsewhere in their writings
they have not been that cautious. In fact, they have gone out of their way in spreading the Big Lie that the
Hindus destroyed many Buddhist and Jain temples and monasteries in the pre-Islamic past. They have
never been able to cite more than half-a-dozen instances of dubious veracity. But that has sufficed for

providing a vociferous plank in the ❖progressive^ party line. ^Hf the descendants of Godse,^ writes the

executive editor of a prestigious Marxist monthly, ❖think that every medieval mosque has been built after
demolishing some temple, why should we stop at the medieval period? After all, Hindu kings had also got a
large number of Jain and Buddhist temples destroyed. The KrishNa temple at Mathuta rose on the ruins of a
Buddhist monastery. There are hundreds of such places (that is, Hindu temples built on the ruins of

Buddhist and Jain places of worship) in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. ^ The author of
the article did not think it necessary to quote some instances. The proposition, he thought, was self-evident.
Herr Goebbles, too, never felt the need of producing any evidence in support of his pronouncements.

It is unfortunate that some Buddhist and Jain scholars have swallowed this lie without checking the quality
and quantity of the evidence offered. Some of these ❖ scholars ❖ are known for their ❖progressive^
inclinations. But there are others who have become victims of a high-powered propaganda. The happiest
people, however, have been the Christian missionaries and the apologists of Islam. Does it not, they say,
blow up the bloody myth that Hinduism has a hoary tradition of religious tolerance and that all religions
coexisted peacefully in this country before the advent of Islam and Christianity? We shall examine this
canard exhaustively at a later stage in this study. For the present we are confining ourselves to the

❖evidenced offered in the context of the Ke^avadeva temple. We reproduce below the relevant reports
of the Archaeological Survey of India.

❖in 1853,❖ writes Dr. J. Ph. Vogel, ❖regular explorations were started by General Cunningham on the
KaTra and continued in 1862. They yielded numerous sculptural remains; most important among them is

an inscribed standing Buddha image (height 3^6^) now in the Lucknow Museum. From the inscription it
appears that this image was presented to the Ya^a-Vihara in the Gupta year 230 (AD 549-50)^

^>The last archaeological explorations at Mathura were carried out by Dr. Fuhrer between the year 1887
and 1896. His chief work was the excavation of the Kankali Tila in the three seasons of 1888-91. He
explored also the KaTra site. Unfortunately, no account of his researches is available, except the meager

information contained in his Museum Reports for those years ^ The plates of which only a few are
reproductions of photographs and the rest drawings, illustrate the sculptures acquired in the course of Dr.
Fuhrer^s excavations but do not throw much fight on the explorations themselves

^>He [Cunningham] proposes to identify Kesopura, the quarter in which the KaTra is situated, with ^>the
Klisobora or Kaisobora of Arrian and the Calisobora of Pliny. ^ It is, however, evident that the Mohalla

Kesopura was named after the shrine of Keso or Kesab (Skt. Ke^ava) Dev. This temple stood, as we
noticed above, on the ruins of a Buddhist monastery which still existed in the middle of the sixth century. It
is, therefore, highly improbable that the name Kesopura goes back to the days of Arrian.-

^ All we can say from past explorations is the following: The KaTra must have been the site of a Buddhist

monastery named the Ya^a-Vihara which was still extant in the middle of the sixth century. It would seem
that in the immediate vicinity there existed a stupa to which the Bhutesar railing pillars belong. Dr. Fuhrer
mentions indeed in one of his reports that, in digging at the back of Aurangzeb^s mosque, he struck the
procession path of a stupa bearing a dedicatory inscription.^

Dr. Vogel returned to the theme in 1911-12. He wrote:

4>The Keshab-Dev temple, of which the foundation can still clearly be traced stood again on earlier

remains of Buddhist origin. This became at once apparent from General Cunningham^s explorations on
this site in the years 1853 and 1862, which opened the era of archaeological research at Mathura. Among
his finds was a standing Buddha image (4^3.5^), now in the Lucknow Museum, bearing an inscription,
which is dated in the Gupta year 230 (AD 549-50) and records that the image was dedicated by the
Buddhist nun JayabhaTTa at the Ya^a-Vihara.

^Several Buddhist sculptures, mostly of the KushaNa period have since been discovered in the KaTra
mound. So that there can be little doubt, that it marks the site of an important monastic establishment. It
was particularly ^►one^ find which seemed to call for further investigation. Dr. Fuhrer while describing
his last exploration of the year 1896 on the KaTra, says the following, ^ About 50 paces to the north of this
plinth [of the Ke^avadeva Temple] I dug a trail trench, 80 feet long, 20 feet broad and 25 feet deep, in the

hope of exposing the foundations and some of the sculptures of this Ke^ava temple. However, none of the
hoped for Brahmanical sculptures and inscriptions were discovered, but only fragments belonging to an
ancient stupa. At a depth of 20 feet I came across a portion of the circular procession-path leading round
this stupa. On the pavement, composed of large red sandstone slabs, a short dedicatory inscription was
discovered, according to which this stupa, was repaired in samvat 76 by the Kushana King Vasushaka;
unfortunately, I was unable to continue the work and lay bare the whole procession-path, as the walls of the

brick structure, adjoining the Masjid are built right across the middle of this stupa. ^

❖ Unfortunately, the inscription referred to by Dr. Fuhrer was never published, nor were estampages of it
known to exist. Since the discovery of the inscribed sacrificial post (yupa) of Isapur had established the fact
that between Kanishka and Huvishka there reigned a ruler of the name of Vasishka, it became specially
important to verify the particulars given by Dr. Fuhrer in the above quoted note.

❖The endeavours made by Pandit Radha Krishna to recover Dr. Fuhrer^s inscription were not crowned
with success. It is true, however, that on the spot indicated the remains of a brick stupa honeycombed by
the depredations of contractors came to light. This monument, however, cannot be assigned a date earlier
than about the sixth century of our era. Of the circular procession path of red stone slabs mentioned in Dr.

Fuhrer^s report, no trace was found, but at a much higher level there was a straight causeway of stone
referable to about the 12th or 13th century AD. Evidently it has nothing whatsoever to do with the stupa.
The causeway in question, which is 48 ❖ long, 4^ 6^ wide, runs straight from north to south and is
constructed of large sandstone slabs roughly dressed and apparently obtained from different quarries. The
size of these stones shows considerable variations, one measuring 6^6^ by 1^6^ by 9^ and another

4^ 7 ❖ by 1^7^ by 9^. The causeway consists of a double layer of these slabs laid three by three, the
whole being very irregular. The slabs were bound with iron clamps, some of which still remain. Five of the
stones are marked with a trident (tri^ul).

❖in course of excavation numerous sculptural fragments came to light mostly of a late date and apparently
decorative remains of the Kesab Deb temple destroyed by Aurangzeb. Among earlier finds I wish only to
mention a broken fourfold Jaina image (pratima sarvato bhadrika) with a fragmentary inscription in Brahmi

of the Kushan period. ❖-

A persual of these reports yields the following facts and conclusions:

1. General Cunningham^s surmise about a Buddhist monastery being buried in the KaTra mound was no
more than a mere speculation. The speculation was based on the discovery of a loose sculpture and not on
the laying bare of any foundations or other remains of a monastery. Can the subsequent discovery of a Jain
sculpture at the same site be relied upon to say that a Jain monastery also lies buried there? It has to be
noted, that in Mathura many Brahmanical sculptures and architectural fragments have been found on sites
such as the Jamalpur and Kankali mounds which are definitely known as Buddhist and Jain sites on the
basis of foundations of monasteries etc., discovered there. No one has ever speculated that the Buddhist and
Jain monuments at these sites were built on the ruins of Brahmanical temples.-

2. Dr. Vogel rejected General Cunningham^s identification of the KaTra site with Kesopura on the basis

of the latter^s speculation that a Buddhist monastery was buried under the Ke^avadeva temple. This was
tantamount to proving what he had already assumed. With equal logic, he could have rejected General
Cunningham^s speculation about a Buddhist monastery and confirmed his identification of the KaTra site
with Kesopura. It seems that a pro-Buddhist and anti-Brahmanical bias, which was as dominant in his days
as it is in our own, was responsible for his arbitrary choice from two equally plausible speculations on the
part of the same explorer, namely. General Cunningham.

3. That a stupa existed in the vicinity of the Ke^vadeva temple is clear from the findings of Dr. Fuhrer as

well as Pandit Radha Krishna. But Dr. Fuhrer^s discovery of a circular procession path belonging to the
stupa and passing under the KaTra mound was not confirmed by the digging undertaken by Pandit Radha
Krishna. It seems that the large sandstone slabs which Dr. Fuhrer construed as belonging to the procession
path of the stupa belonged in fact to the causeway which was uncovered by Pandit Radha Krishna and

which had nothing whatsoever to do with the stupa. Obviously, Dr. Fuhrer was misled into another
speculation because of his reliance on the earlier speculation by General Cunningham.

4. Dr. Fuhrer had surmised that the stupa was repaired in the reign of Vasishka, that is, in the first decade of
the second century AD. This he had done on the basis of an inscription he claimed to have read on a slab in
what he thought to be the circular procession path of the stupa. He is not known to have copied the
inscription, nor has it ever been published. Pandit Radha Krishna who excavated in 1911-12 with the
specific purpose of discovering that inscription failed not only to find it but also the circular procession
path. What is more, the stupa which was the same as that seen by Dr. Fuhrer could not be assigned to a date
earlier than the sixth century AD, that is, four centuries after the reign of Vasishka!

That is the picture which emerges from the explorations and excavations undertaken at the KaTra site by
General Cunningham in 1853 and 1862, Dr. Fuhrer in 1896, and Pandit Radha Krishna in 1911-12. There is
no positive evidence about the existence of a Buddhist edifice in the KaTra mound. All that can be said is
that a Buddhist stupa was built in the vicinity of the site some time in the sixth century.

No trace of a Buddhist monastery or any other Buddhist monument was found in the extensive exploration
and excavation undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India at the KaTra site during 1954-55, 1973-
74, 1974-75, 1975-76 and 1976-77. None of the archaeologists who undertook the diggings has subscribed
to the theory propounded earlier by General Cunningham, Dr. Fuhrer and Dr. Vogel and now by the

Marxist professors. ^Thirty eight sculptures,^ wrote R.C. Sharma in 1984, ^>saw their way to the
Mathura Museum in July 1954 when Sri K.D. Vajpeyi (later Professor) was the Curator. They were
unearthed as a result of levelling and digging of the KaTra site for renovating the birthplace of Lord
KRSNa and were made over to the Museum by the Janmabhumi Trust. Some other objects which were
casually picked up by others from KaTra site were also acquired. The finds include terra-cottas from
Mauryan to Gupta periods, a few brick panels with creeper designs and several Brahmanical objects
ranging from Gupta to early Medieval age. The number of fragments of ViSNu figures is quite considerable

and this suggests that a big VaiSNava or Bhagvata complex once stood on the site.^T

The controversy should stand closed with what Professor Heinrich Luders, the great expert on Mathura, has
to say on the subject. ^Considering the well-known untrustworthiness of Dr. Fuhrer^s reports,^ he
writes, ^there can be no doubt that the VasuSka inscription is only a product of his
imaginations.^- 1 Steven Rosen has accused Dr. Vogel of ^attempted forgery^ in editing the Mora Well
inscription discovered by Cunningham in 1882. ^Many early archaeologists in India,^ he writes, ^ were

Christian - and they made no bones about their motivation.^ 1 He adds, Dr. Vogel in attempting to
distort the Mora Well inscription was right in the line with many of his predecessors in the world of
Indology and archaeology. ^ 1 -

II

It is welcome that the professors are prepared for an investigation for finding whether the KaTra mound
hides the remains of a Buddhist monastery under the remains of the Ke^avadeva temple. Only a thorough
excavation of the site on which the Idgah stands can settle the question. But it must be pointed out that the
excavation may not stop at the Buddhist monastery if it is uncovered at all. If it is true, as they say, that
Hindus and Buddhists were at daggers drawn in the pre-Islamic period, they should be prepared for the
possibility that the Buddhist monastery itself was built on the ruins of an earlier Hindu temple. After all, the

most ancient and prolific Indian literature associates Mathura with the birth and youth of KrishNa,
while the Buddhist associations with Mathura do not go beyond Greek and KushaNa times. We have

already quoted Romila Thapar regarding the Ke^vadeva tradition going back to the Mauryan period. It is
quite plausible on the hypothesis of the professors that some Greek or KushaNa patron of Buddhism
destroyed a Hindu temple which stood at ^>ri KrishNa^s place of birth before he raised a Buddhist
monastery on the site. Of course, we do not subscribe to this story of Hindu-Buddhist conflict. There is no
evidence that the Hindus ever destroyed a Buddhist place of worship or vice versa. We are only proposing
a test for the Marxist hypothesis.

It is intriguing indeed that whenever archaeological evidence points towards a mosque as standing on the
site of a Hindu temple, our Marxist professors start seeing a Buddhist monastery buried underneath. They

also invent some ^aiva king as destroying Buddhist and Jain shrines whenever the large-scale destruction
of Hindu temples by Islamic invaders is mentioned. They never mention the destruction of big Buddhist
and Jain complexes which dotted the length and breadth of India, Khurasan, and Sinkiang on the eve of the
Islamic invasion, as testified by Hiien Tsang. We should very much like to know from them as to who
destroyed the Buddhist and Jain temples and monasteries at Bukhara, Samarqand, Khotan, Balkh, Bamian,
Kabul, Ghazni, Qandhar, Begram, Jalalabad, Peshawar, Charsadda, Ohind, Taxila, Multan, Mirpurkhas,
Nagar-Parkar, Sialkot, Srinagar, Jalandhar, Jagadhari, Sugh, Tobra, Agroha, Delhi, Mathura, Hastinapur,
Kanauj, Sravasti, Ayodhya, Varanasi, Sarnath, Nalanda, Vikramasila, Vaishali, Rajgir, Odantapuri,

Bharhut, Champa, Paharpur, Jagaddal, Jajnagar, Nagarjunikonda, Amravati, Kanchi, Dwarasamudra,
Devagiri, Bharuch, Valabhi, Girnar, Khambhat Patan, Jalor, Chandravati, Bhinmal, Didwana, Nagaur,
Osian, Ajmer, Bairat, Gwalior, Chanderi, Mandu, Dhar, etc., to mention only the more prominent ones. The
count of smaller Buddhist and Jain temples destroyed by the swordsmen of Islam runs into hundreds of
thousands. There is no dearth of mosques and other Muslim monuments which have buried in their
masonry any number of architectural and sculptural pieces from Buddhist and Jain monuments.

It is not so long ago that Western scholars, even Christian missionaries, used to credit the Hindus at least
with one virtue, namely, religious tolerance. Hindus had received universal acclaim for providing refuge
and religious freedom to the Jews, the Christians, and the Parsis who had run away from persecutions at the
hands of Christian and Islamic rulers in West Asia and Iran. It was also conceded that though Brahmanical,
Buddhist and Jain sects and subsects had had heated discussions among themselves and used even strong
language for their adversaries, the occasions when they exchanged physical blows were few and far
between. The recent spurt of accusations that Hindus also were bigots and vandals like Christians and
Muslims, seems to be an after-thought. Apologists who find it impossible to whitewash Christianity and
Islam, are out to redress the balance by blackening Hinduism. Till recently, the Marxists were well-known
for compiling inventories of capitalist sins in order to hide away the crimes committed in Communist
countries.

The professors see some retributive justice in the destruction of the Ke^avadeva temple by Aurangzeb
because they believe that the temple was built on the ruins of a Buddhist monastery destroyed by the
Hindus in the pre-Islamic past. It does not speak very highly of whatever moral sense the professors may
possess that they should justify or explain away the wrong done by someone during one period in terms of
another wrong done by someone else at some distant date. The whole argument is tantamount to saying that
the murder of A by B is justified or should be explained away because the great-great-great grandfather of
A had murdered C!

But after all is said about the Marxist professors, we must admit the merit of their last point, namely, ^the

question of limits to the logic of restoration of religious sites. ^ Our plea is that the question can be
answered satisfactorily only when we are prepared to face facts and a sense to proportion is restored. That
is exactly what this study intends to do.

Footnotes:

1 Gautama Navalakha, ^Bhakti Sahitya ka Durupayoga^, HaMsa, Hindi monthly. New Delhi,
June 1987, p. 21. Emphasis added.

= Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report 1906-07, p. 137.

- Ibid., p. 139.

- Ibid., p. 140.

- Ibid., pp. 140-41.

-Ibid., Annual Report 1911-12, pp. 132-33.

- How much mistaken General Cunningham could be in his speculations sometimes is shown by
Dr. R.C. Sharma who has been a Curator of the Museum at Mathura. ^Sir Alexander

Cunningham,^ he writes, ^during his first exploration in 1853 found some pillars of a Buddhist
railing at the site of KaTra Keshavadev renowned as birthplace of Lord KRSna. Later he
recovered a gateway from the same spot and a standing Buddha figure from a well recording the

name of the monastery as Yasa Vihara. He remarks, made the first discovery of Buddhist
remains at the temple of Kesau Ray in January 1853, when, after a long search I found a broken
pillar of a Buddhist railing sculptured with the figure of Maya Devi standing under the Sala tree^
Cunningham was mistaken when he identified the lady on railing as Maya Devi. Since it was the
first discovery he thought the representation conveyed some special event. Now we know that the
lady under tree was a common representation on the rail posts of KuSaNa period and it does not

specifically represent Maya Devi^ (R.C. Sharma, Buddhist Art of Mathura, Delhi, 1984, p. 51).

- R.C. Sharma, op. Cit. PP. 83-84.

- Heinrich Luders, Mathura Inscriptions, Gottingen, 1961, p. 30.

- Steven Rosen, Archaeology and the Vaishnava Traditions: The Pre-Christian Roots of Krishna
Worship, Calcutta, 1989, pp. 25-26.

— Ibid., p. 28.

CHAPTER SIX

THE EPIGRAPHIC EVIDENCE

Commenting on the history of Central Asia, Heinrich Zimmer writes: ^During the sixth and early seventh
centuries AD the whole tract was controlled by Turkish rulers, but in the course of the seventh, with
increasing strength of the T^ang Emperors, China gained control. Linally, however, under the onslaught
of Islam, from the eighth century to the tenth, both Buddhist and Manichaean as well as the Nestorian
Christian culture and monuments of the region were destroyed. ^

Coming to North India, he continues: 4Hn the north very little survives of the ancient edifices that were

there prior to the Muslim conquest: only a few mutilated religious sites remain ^ It is clear from Indian
literature that both temples and images must have existed in the second century BC and perhaps earlier.

Very little architectural evidence remains, however, antedating the epoch of the Gupta dynasty (C. AD 320-
650), for it was precisely in the Ganges Valley, the central and chief area of the Gupta empire, that the
Muslim empire flourished a millennium later and most of the monuments above ground were destroyed by
the sectarian zeal of Islam. The oldest stone ruins that have been found represent not the beginnings of a

style, but fully developed forms.

He is specific about the destruction of Buddhism in India. ^ Since the earliest important body of Indian art

surviving to us,^> he says, ^ stems from the century of A^oka, it is predominantly Buddhist. During
subsequent periods, however, Buddhist and Hindu (Brahmanical) themes alternate in rich profusion. The
two traditions flourished side by side, even sharing colleges and monasteries, for nearly two millenniums,
until about the height of the Muslim conquest (C. AD 1200), Buddhism disappeared from the land of its

birth.

By now there are hundreds of publications which provide detailed studies of the architecture and sculpture
of many Hindu monuments from all over India. But only a few of them, mostly written by foreigners, state
clearly that what have been studied are heaps of ruins dug out by archaeologists from under tell-tale
mounds. Hindu writers, by and large, leave the impression as if they have studied monuments which stand
intact and in all their original majesty. It is only when we come to the plates that the truth dawns upon us.
What we find there staring us in the face are mostly ruins with architectural fragments and mutilated
sculptures lying scattered on the surface or brought up from underneath.

The travels of Buddhist pilgrims from China and the pre-Islamic epigraphic records on stones and copper
plates tell us how many temples and monasteries stood at what place and at what time. Histories written by
medieval Muslim historians inform us as to who made these monuments disappear and when. The two
sources, taken together, present a total picture which historians have so far studied in separate parts.

Hindus are famous (or notorious) for their poor sense of history as Christians, Muslims and the modern
Westerners understand it. Hindus of medieval India were no exception. They have left no record of what
happened to their places of worship and pilgrimage at the hands of Islamic iconoclasm. We do come across
descriptions of the Muslim behaviour pattern in the Hindu literature from that period. An invariable
ingredient of that pattern is the destruction of temples and the desecration of idols. Accounts relating to
destruction of particular temples at particular dates and places are very rare. That sort of detailed evidence
comes almost entirely from medieval Muslim sources, literary and epigraphic. Archaeological explorations
and excavations in modern times have only confirmed and supplemented that evidence.

Times have changed and so also some moral standards of mankind. Religious tolerance is a value which is
cherished today universally by the dominant intellectual elite of the world. Muslim theologians, scholars
and politicians in present-day India, therefore, want us to believe that Islam stands for religious tolerance
and that there was never a time when it interfered by means of force with the religious beliefs or practices
of other people. They resent any reference whatsoever to the destruction of Hindu temples by Muslim
invaders and rulers in medieval India. Leftist professors and politicians who subscribe to what they
describe as Secularism, dismiss this significant chapter in medieval India's history as a canard spread by

^ Hindu communal ists^L As most of these worthies happen to be Hindus by accident of birth, they add
considerable weight to Muslim assertions.

There was, however, a time not so long ago when Muslim theologians prescribed and Muslim swordsmen
practised destruction of Hindu temples- on a large scale. Hundreds of Muslim historians have credited their
heroes with what they rightly regarded as a pious performance according to the principal tenets of Islam.
Most of these histories, written in India as well as elsewhere in the Islamic world, have been printed and
translated in one or more of the modern languages. They are on the shelves of public and private libraries
all over the world. Then there are inscriptions in Arabic and Persian which proclaim the destruction of
Hindu temples or their conversion into mosques with considerable pride. These, too, have been deciphered,

translated and published by archaeological surveys covering India, Central Asia, Eastern Iran, Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Bangladesh. They leave us in no doubt about one of the favourite pastimes of pious Muslim
princes in all these countries which constituted at one time the vast cradle of Hindu culture.

In this and the following chapter we shall present evidence of temple destruction from Islamic sources
which we have been able to reach within limits of our resources. Many sources have remained untapped. It
is hoped that future scholars will fill the gaps in what is a very important subject in the domain of religious
studies. Destroying places of worship of the conquered people has been an important aspect of Christianity
and Islam. But religious studies in the West have so far neglected this aspect because of their Christian
bias. Religious studies in India have failed to take it up partly because we follow the Western patterns of
research but mostly because we subscribe to a mistaken notion of Secularism. Secularism arose in the
modern West as a revolt against the closed theology of Christianity which had acquired a stranglehold on
the State; in India, unfortunately. Secularism has become the biggest single protector of closed theologies
promoted by Christianity and Islam.

There will be frequent references to Muslim kings and dynasties in this narrative. Appendix 1 can be
consulted for placing every reference in its proper historical context. At a later stage in this study we shall
follow the trail of Islamic invasions as they advanced towards different parts of the Hindu homeland and
worked havoc all along their path. That will facilitate an understanding of the evidence from modern
archaeological explorations and excavations which we shall present subsequently.

There are many Muslim monuments all over India which provide unmistakable evidence that materials
from demolished Hindu temples have been used in their construction. Most of them carry inscriptions in
Arabic or Persian stating when they were built and by whom. Some of these inscriptions, installed in
mosques, proclaim that the mosques occupy the sites of Hindu temples which were destroyed. Others say
that temple materials were used in the construction of the mosques. Similar inscriptions on stone slabs lying
loose or not in situ have been discovered in many places; it is difficult to determine as to on what mosques
or other Muslim monuments they were installed. It is a safe bet that many more inscriptions which refer to
destruction of Hindu temples and construction of mosques etc., remain undiscovered or undeciphered or
unpublished. Epigraphists in secular India do not seem to be keen or scrupulous in searching and publishing

evidence which compromises the picture of this country as a Shaven of communal amity and peace before

the advent of the British. ^

We give below some instances of inscriptions discovered and copied quite some time ago but not published
so far:

1. An Arabic inscription was discovered in the Jami^ Masjid at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh in 1953-54.
It says that the idol was broken and the mosque constructed by Sher Muhammad Khan Ghazi in AH 1051
(AD 1641-42). Another inscription in the same place says that this Sher Muhammad Khan was given the
title of Firuz Jang by Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah of Golconda in AH 1055 (AD 1645-46).' The inscription
has not been published so far.

2. A Persian inscription on the entrance gateway of a mosque at Nuh in the Gurgaon District of Haryana
states that the foundation of this mosque was laid by Bahadur Khan Nahar in the reign of Muhammad Shah,
son of Firuz Shah (Tughlaq), from the materials of a Hindu temple in village Sainthali where Hindus used
to assemble in large numbers every year. The qazi of Nauganwa made a representation to Bahadur Khan
Nahar who destroyed the temple and completed the mosque in AH 803 (AD 1400).- This inscription has
yet to be published though it was discovered in 1963-64.

3. Another Persian inscription discovered in the Jami^ Masjid at Ritpur in the Amraoti District of
Maharashtra proclaims that the mosque which was originally built by Aurangzeb on the site of a Hindu
temple, having become desolate through passage of time, was reconstructed in AH 1295 (AD 1878) with

the help of contributions raised by the local Muslims.- This inscription discovered in 1964-65 has not been
published so far.

4. An inscription discovered in 1978-79 on the facade of the Jami^ Masjid in Mahalla Sunhat at Balasore
in Orissa states die in AH 1079 (AD 1668-69) a mob of Muslim mendicants (faqtrs ) led by Talib stormed
and set fire to the temple of ^ri ChaNdi which was being resorted to by the Hindus. Five years later, the
local faujdar built the mosque on the same site.- This inscription, too, remains unpublished.

5. An inscription in the Jami^ Masjid at Tadpatri in Andhra Pradesh records that the mosque was
constructed on the site of a temple by Mahmud for offering prayers to Allah. The inscription dated AH
1107 (AD 1695) was discovered in 1980-81.— It is not yet published. We do not know anything about
Mahmud who performed this pious deed in the reign of Aurangzeb.

Similar inscriptions are known to exist in some mosques which are still in use. But they cannot be copied
because they have been covered with plaster. Years ago. Dr. Bloch had seen an inscription in the Pcitthar-
ki-Masjid at Patna, the capital of Bihar, stating that the materials for the mosque were obtained from a
Hindu temple at Majhauli (now in the Gorakhpur District of Uttar Pradesh).— The temple was demolished

in AH 1036 (AD 1626) by Prince Parwiz, a son of the Mughal emperor Jahangir. made the car stop,^

writes Syed Hasan Askari, ^>and took my friends to the upper part of the historic Patthar-ki-Masjid. One
of my American friends was an Arabist, but there was nothing for him to read, for the demoralised
custodians had the inscription plastered with cement, considering that it contained provocative

references. ^ Some friends of this author who visited the Jami ^ Masjid at Sambhal in the Moradabad
District of Uttar Pradesh had the same experience when they expressed a desire to have a look at the
inscriptions. This mosque was built in AD 1526 by an officer of Babur on the site and from the materials of
the local Hari Mandir.

It may also be mentioned that similar inscriptions which have been published by the archaeological surveys
in countries outside the present-day precincts of India have remained beyond our reach because of the
paucity of our means.

The inscriptions that we present below have been deciphered for the most part by learned Muslim
epigraphists and placed in their proper historical context. The Archaeological Survey of India has published
their fascimilies in its learned journals. They are being presented in a chronological order with reference to
the dates they carry and not in the order in which they were discovered or published.

1. Delhi

This inscription can be seen over the inner eastern gateway of the Quwwat al-Islam Masjid near the Qutb
Minar. It is in situ. Its language is Persian. It states:

^>This fort was conquered and this Jami ^ Masjid built in the months of the year 587 by the Amir, the
great, the glorious commander of the Army, Qutb-ud-daula wad-din, the Amir-ul-umara Aibeg, the slave of
the Sultan, may God strengthen his helpers! The materials (?) of 27 idol temples, on each of which
2,000,000 Deliwal had been spent were used in the (construction of) this mosque. God the Great and
Glorious may have mercy on that slave, every one who is in favour of the good (?) builder prays for this

faith.

The Amir mentioned in the inscription was Qutbu^d-Din Aibak, a slave of Shihabu^d-Din or

Muizzu^d-Din Muhammad bin Sam popularly known as Muhammad Ghurf. Aibak died at Lahore in
1210. He had crowned himself at the same place in 1206 and is counted as the first sultan of the Slave or
Mamluk Dynasty.

The date AH 587 mentioned in the inscription presents a problem. It corresponds to AD 1191 while it is
indisputable according to all sources that Delhi came under Muslim occupation for the first time in 1192,
after the second battle of Tarain. Moreover, Delhi like Ajmer, was left at that time in the hands of a Hindu
prince who was to rule as a tributary of the Ghurid empire. Soon after, Delhi was besieged by a Hindu army

under the leadership of Ihat Rai, a Chauhan general. Qutbu^d-Din Aibak whom Muhammad Ghuri had
left in charge of his Indian conquests had to rush back from Meerut which he had captured in the
meanwhile. He was able to reoccupy Delhi and drive away the Hindu only in 1193. It is difficult to say
whether the destruction of the Hindu temples and construction of the mosque mentioned in the inscription
took place during the first occupation in 1192 or the second occupation in 1193. It is surmised that it could
not have happened while Delhi was in charge of a Hindu prince, though it is not a very strong argument the
Hindu prince must have been a helpless witness of what the conquerors did. The only thing that is certain is
that the mosque could not have been built in 1191 when Delhi was still in the hands of an unconquered
Hindu king.

The epigraphist has tried to solve the puzzle. ^This inscription,^ he writes, ^exhibits the titles which he
had assumed in 602 when he received his manumission from the ruler of Ghazni. Before that date, as long
as his master was alive, there was nothing to prevent him from inscribing his own name on any building he
liked, but he could have done so only if he included the name of his overlord in the record. Now in our

inscription Shihabuddin^s name is not mentioned, nor does Qutbuddin appear in it as anything higher than
the Amir-ul-Umara. This leads us to the conclusion that the inscription was put up after Qutbuddin ^s

death by order of some ruler, who wished Qutbuddin ^s memory to be preserved as the conqueror of Delhi,
but who had no interest in having it stated that Shihabuddm was his sovereign at that time. Had
Qutbuddin^>s descendants ruled at Delhi, they might have preferred to assign to him the titles he assumed

as an independent ruler; but his successors were not of his lineage^ How long after Qutbuddin^s death it
was put up, it is difficult to say. But a terminus ante quem is furnished by Ibn Battuta who read it when at
Delhi during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq Shah.^— It is surmised that the inscription was installed in
the reign of Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236) and the date on it was somehow bungled.

There is thus no doubt that the inscription is very old. Ibn Battuta had reached Delhi in AD 1334 and seen
the mosque immediately afar his arrival. ^H)n the site of this mosque,^ he writes, ^there was

a budkhana, that is an idol-house. After the conquest of Delhi it was turned into a mosque. He also
makes a mistake about the date of the conquest which he says was given to him by the Sadr-i-Jahan, chief
justice of Hind and Sind. But he confirms that read that date in an inscription on the arch of the great
congregational mosque there.

2. Vijapur

This town is the headquarters of a Taluka in the Mehsana District of Gujarat. The ManSuri Masjid in the
town has been ^entirely reconstructed in the past decade or so, but the inscribed tablet from the old
mosque has been retained and fixed above the central miHrab The Persian inscription reads as follows:

^>The Blessed and Exalted Allah says, And verily, mosques are for Allah only; hence invoke not anyone

else with Allah. ^ This edifice was (originally) built by the infidels. After the advent (lit. time) of Islam, it
was converted into (lit. became) a mosque. Sermon was (delivered here) for sixty-seven years. Due to the
sedition of the infidels, it was again destroyed. When during the reign of the Sultan of the time, AHmad,
the affairs of each Iqta attained magnificence, Bahadur, the Sarkhail, once again carried out repairs.

Through the generosity of Divine munificence, it became like new. -

The inscription does not mention the date when the Hindu temple was destroyed and a mosque built on its
site, nor the date when the mosque was repaired after the restoration of Muslim authority. ^"The

reconstruction,^ comments the epigraphist, ^must have obviously taken place at a time when Sultan
Ahmad Shah had established his unquestioned sway over that region, that is to say, in about 1428. Again, it
is not easy to determine when the Hindu building was first used as a mosque. It is reasonable to think that

after the conquest of Gujarat, and the consolidation of Muslim rule in the province, by ^Alau^d-Din
Khalji, the building might have been used as a place of Muslim worship and it was used as such till the
time when, about three quarters of a century later, sometime towards the end of the fourteenth century
synchronising with the defiance of central authority by the Gujarat governor Malik Mufarrih, the mosque

was desecrated or destroyed. 1 -

The reference to sermon being delivered in the mosque indicates that it was a Jami^ Masjid. The Hindu
temple, too, it means must have been a major temple. Muslim iconoclasts generally used the sites of the
most important Hindu temples for raising Jami^ Masjids.

3. Chittaurgarh

At present this place is the headquarters of a District of the same name in Rajasthan. But in medieval times
it had become famous on account of its very strong fort with which was associated the glory of Mewar. It

was occupied by Muslims for the first time in AD 1303 after a seize of eight months by ^Alau^d-Din
Khalji (AD 1296-1310), the second sultan of the Khalji dynasty of Delhi.

At a distance of about one mile outside the Delhi Gate of the fort there is a tomb known as that of Ghaibi
Pir. Opposite to the tomb is a Muslim graveyard in which there is a small one-wall mosque. The prayer
niche of the mosque carries a Persian inscription of which only a small portion has survived. The learned

epigraphist has read it as follows after restoring some words by conjecture: ^>He constructed the

congregational mosque. There was temple lying in ruins. 20

The inscription is not in situ as it belongs to a Jami^> Masjid which this small mosque is not. The
epigraphist thinks that the tablet bearing the inscription seems to be a fragment of another tablet fixed in the
west wall of the tomb of Ghaibi Pir. The second tablet bears another inscription which mentions the name

Bu^l Muzaffar, the second Sikandar, that is, ^►Alau^d-Din Khalji, and the year AD 1310.— ^Mf this

guess is correct,^ the epigraphist concludes, ^it would mean that ^Alau^d-Din had ordered the
construction in Chitor, of a congregational mosque, which was completed on the day of Sacrifice, the 10th
of Dhi^l-Hijja of the year AH 709 (11 May AD 1310). Needless to say, no trace remains of any old
mosque in Chitor today. ^> 2

There is another conclusion drawn by the epigraphist after his conjectural restoration of the first inscription,
❖it is also interesting to note,^ he writes, ❖provided of course I am not wrong in my conjectural reading
of the second hemistich, that the said Jami ❖ mosque was constructed at the site of a temple which was
then lying in ruins ❖ This is particularly important as showing that, not always as is generally supposed, the
Hindu buildings were pulled down to provide materials for mosques and other similar monuments. ❖— We
find it difficult to agree. The conjectural reading, ❖lying in ruins,❖ is not the only possible reading. It can
as well be read as ❖made into ruins^, which is the standard expression used in many other inscriptions.

4. Manvi

It is the headquarters of a Taluka of the same name in the Raichur District of Karnataka. A mosque in this
place has a Persian inscription fixed above its door. It reads as follows:

❖He (Allah) is Omniscient. Praise be to Allah that by the decree of the Nourisher, a mosque has been
converted out of a temple as a sign of religion, in the reign of the world-conquering emperor, the king who
is asylum of the Faith and possessor of the crown, whose kingdom is young (i.e. flourishing), viz. Firuz

Shah Bahmani, who is the cause of exuberant spring in the garden of religion, Abu^l-Fath the king who
conquered (lit. on horseback). After the victory of the emperor, the chief of chiefs, Safdar (lit. the valiant
commander) of the age, received (the charge of) the fort. The builder of this noble place of prayer is
Muhammad ZaHir Aqchi, the pivot of the Faith. He constructed in the year eight hundred and nine from the

Migration of the Chosen (prophet Muhammad) this Ka^ba like memento. ❖ -

The year AH 809 corresponds to AD 1406-07. Firuz Shah Bahmani (AD 1397-1422) was the eighth ruler

of this independent Muslim dynasty established by ❖Alau^d-Din Bahmani in AD 1347. The capital of

Firuz Shah was at Gulbarga. It was shifted to Bidar by his son, Ahmad Shah Bahmani, some time about AD
1425.

5. Dhar

This is a famous town in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, and head-quarters of a distinct of the same
name. It was the capital of the renowned Bhoja Parmara who ruled between AD 1000 and 1055. It has a

mausoleum known to be that of Shykh ❖Abdullah Shah Changal, now in ruins. The doorway of the
entrance to the mausoleum has a long inscription in Persian which, after singing fulsome praises of the
Shykh, says:

❖This centre became Muhammadan first by him (and) all the banners of religion were spread^ This lion-
man came from the centre of religion to this old temple with a large force. He broke the images of the false
deities, and turned the idol temple into a mosque. When Rai Bhoj saw this, through wisdom he embraced
Islam with the family of his brave warriors. This quarter became illuminated by the light of the
Muhammadan law, and the customs of the infidels became obsolete and abolished. Now this tomb since
those days has become the famous pilgrimage-place of the world. Graves from their oldness became
levelled (to the ground), (and) there remained no mound on any grave. There was [no place] also for the

retirement, wherein the distressed dervish could take rest^ The Khalji king MaHmud Shah who is such
that by his justice the world has become adorned like paradise; he built afresh this old structure, and this

house with its enclosure again became new^ From the hijra it was 859 (AD 1455) that its (the
building ^ s) date was written anew^>^

The inscription was put up by Mahmud Shah Khalji of Malwa, who overthrew the independent Ghuri
dynasty of that province in AD 1436 and ruled as the founder of the independent Khalji dynasty of Malwa

till 1469. Nothing is known about ^Abdullah Shah Changal except that he hailed from Medina and was
one of the earliest crusaders of Islam in Malwa. G. Yazdani who has published and translated this
inscription speculates that ^Abdullah belonged to the army of Mahmud of Ghazni who fought with Raja

Bhoja^ and though he ^might have converted only a few Hindus to Islam, after a period of four hundred
years, can easily have been believed to have converted Raja Bhoja with all his family and others to
Islam.It is, however, more probable, as some other scholars have surmised, that the Hindu king was

Bhoja II who ascended the throne at Dhar in AD 1283 and during whose reign Jalalu^d-Din Khalji (AD
1290-1296) of Delhi is known to have invaded Malwa. In that case Abdullah Shah Changal seems to have
been a Muslim missionary who accompanied the army of Islam from Delhi, destroyed a Hindu temple,
built a mosque in its place, and forced the Hindu king to profess the faith of the victor.

6. Malan

This is now a small village in the Palanpur Taluka of the Banaskantha District of Gujarat. But in the reign
of Mahmud Shah I, also known as Mahmud BegDha (AD 1458-1511), of Gujarat, it was the seat of a

Thana and had a Fort. That is why the place has a Jami^ Masjid. A Persian inscription, fixed on the
central mihrab of the mosque, reads as follows:

❖I seek refuge in Allah from (the mischief of) the accursed Satan (and begin) in the name of Allah, the
Beneficent, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah! Allah the Blessed and Exalted says, ^ And verily the mosques
are for Allah only; hence, invoke not anyone else with Allah. ^ (The prophet), on him be peace, says

^He who builds a mosque in the world, the Exalted Allah builds for him a palace in Paradise. ^ In the
auspicious time of the government and peaceful time of Mahmud Shah, son of Muhammad Shah, the
sultan, the Jami^, mosque was constructed on the hill of the fort of Malun (or Malwan) by Khan-i-

A^zam Ulugh Khan, may Allah prolong his life for justice, generosity and benevolence, at the request of
the thanadar Kabir, (son of Diya), the building was constructed by a servant of Ulugh Khan (who is)
magnanimous, just, generous, brave (and who) suppressed the wretched infidels. He eradicated the idol-

houses and mine of infidelity, along with the idols in the enemy^s country with the blow of the sword, and
made ready this abode with different kinds of stone, marble and marim (?). He made its walls and doors out
of the stone of the idols; the back of every stone became the place for prostration of the believers^ the date
was Thursday, fifth of the month of Rajab of the year eight hundred and sixty at the time (5th April, AD
1462).^-

At the end of the inscription, we find a verse from the Qur^an (73.20). It says, ^>And whatever of good
you send on beforehand for yourselves, you will find it with Allah - that is the best and greatest in reward.
And ask forgiveness of Allah. Surely, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

Khan-i-A^zam Ulugh Khan was the title conferred upon ^Alau^d-Din Suhrab, the Governor of

Sultanpur, by Qutbu^d-Din Ahmad Shah or Ahmad Shah II (AD 1451-1458) of Gujarat. He ^>is last
heard of as being sent to fetch Prince Fath Khan to be crowned as Mahmud Shah I in AH 862 or
863,that is, AD 1457 or 1458.

7. Amod

It is the headquarters of a Taluka of the same name in the Bharuch District of Gujarat. Above the
central rnihrdb of its Jami^> Masjid there is a Persian inscription providing particulars of its construction. It
reads as follows:

^ Allah and His grace. When divine favour was bestowed on Khalil Shah, he constructed the Jami^
Masjid for the decoration of Islam; he ruined the idol-house and temple of the polytheists, (and) completed
the Masjid and pulpit in its place. Without doubt, his building was accepted by Allah. What a pleasing

edifice became the calculation of its year. ^

The italicised portion of the last line is a chronogram which yields the year AH 911 corresponding to AD
1505-06. Khalil Shah was the third son of Sultan Mahmud BegDha of Gujarat. At the time he constructed

the Jami^> Masjid at Amod, he was the Governor of Baroda. He succeeded BegDha in AD 1511 as
Muzaffar Shah II and ruled till 1526.

8. Narwar

It is a town in the Shivpuri District of Madhya Pradesh. Inside its fort there is a Muslim place of pilgrimage
known as the shrine of Shah Madar. An inscription from this shrine was removed to the Archaeological
Museum at Gwalior. Written partly in Arabic and partly in Persian, it reads:

^Dilawar Khan, the chief among the king^s viceroys, caused this mosque to be built which is like a place
of shelter for the favourites. Infidelity has been subdued, and Islam has triumphed because of him. The
idols have bowed (to him) and the temples have been laid waste on account of him. The temples have been
razed to the ground along with their foundations, and mosques and worship houses are flowing with

riches.^—

The mosque to which the inscription refers was built in AH 960 (AD 1552) when Islam Shah, the second
king of the Sur dynasty founded by Sher Shah in 1538, was the reigning sultan. He was the son of Sher
Shah and ruled from AD 1545 to 1554. The inscription was composed by Sayyid Ahmad and written by
Nazir Shattari. Both of them belonged to the Shattari sect of Sufism. An outstanding Sufi of this sect,

Shykh Muhammad Ghaus, had settled down at Gwalior before the invasion of Babur and helped the latter
to seize the fort of Gwalior in AD 1527. His services have been recognized by Babur in his memoirs.— The

Shykh^s shrine inside the fort is reported to have replaced a Hindu temple. He had received great favours
from Babur (AD 1526-1530) and Humayun (AD 1530-1538 and 1555-1556). Akbar (AD 1556-1605)
^revered the Shykh (Muhammad Ghaus) and afterwards became his disciple.^ Shah Madar belonged to
the same Sufi sect.

9. Jaunpur

It is the headquarters of a District of the same name in Uttar Pradesh. Its Hammam-Darwaza Masjid has
three inscriptions which are complimentary to each other. The first inscription which is over the central

mihrab of the mosque says that it was built in the reign of Abu^H-Muzaffar Jalalu^d-Din Muhammad

Akbar Badshah Ghazi (AD 1556-1605). ^ The second inscription is built into the wall above the right
mihrab. It reads as follows:

^►Thanks that by the guidance of the Everlasting and Living (Allah), this house of infidelity became the
niche of prayer (i.e. mosque). As a reward for that, the generous Lord, constructed an abode for its builder
in paradise: The Pen of Reason wrote (the words): the mosque of Nawwab Muhsin Khan for the date of its

construction.^

The italicised words in the last line form a chronogram and yield the year AH 975 (AD 1567-68), which is
the same as in the third inscription fixed above the right mihrab of the mosque. The builder of the mosque

was Nawwab Muhsin Khan. Muhammad Lasihu^d-Din writes in The Sharqi Monuments of

Jaunpur (Allahabad, 1922) that the materials of the mosque were ^ taken from those of the temple of

Lachman Das, Diwan of Khan-i-Zaman Ali Quli Khan^> Akbar made over an the property of the Diwan to

Nawab Mohsin Khan.^

^It is surprising,^ writes the learned epigraphists, W.H. Siddiqi and Z.A. Desai, ^that practically
nothing is known about Nawwab Muhsin Khan, the builder of this mosque and several other edifices, from
contemporary or later records. The tide Nawwab prefixed to his name clearly suggests that he was a man of
high status in the reign, probably holding jagir or a high post in the sarkar of Jaunpur, which was included

in Akbar^s time in the suba of Allahabad.^— Abu^M Lazl mentions a Muhsin Khan in Akbar Nama in
the annals of the year 1571. He was a brother of the ^celebrated Shihabu^d-Din Ahmad Khan^> who
belonged to ^a Sayyid family of Nishapur in I ran. ^ This Muhsin Khan is probably the same as the
Muhsin Khan who, according to Ahu4M Lazl again, ^Hn AH 982 participated in the Bengal expedition led
by Khan-i-Khanan Munim Khan. ^

10. Ghoda

It is now a village in the Khed Taluka of Poona District in Maharashtra. The old Jami^ Masjid of this
place is known for two Persian inscription on two of its pillars. Joined together, the inscriptions read as
follows:

^>Oh Allah! Oh Muhammad! O ^ Ali! Mir Muhammad Zaman made up his mind, he opened the door of
prosperity on himself with his own hand. He demolished thirty-three idol-temples (and) by divine grace,
laid the foundation of a building in this abode of perdition. That the mosques are Allah^s, therefore call

not upon any one with Allah (Qur^an LXXII, 18). He opened the arms of magnanimity with goodness and
scattered gold, (and) laid the foundation of a mosque like the palace of paradise. I went in contemplation
and sought its date from Wisdom. Wisdom was astonished and said, he built this blessed building. -

The chronogram contained in the italicised words yields the year AH 994 (AD 1586). The Poona region at
that time was in the Nizam Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar. The ruler was Murtaza Nizam Shah I (1565-
1588) during whose reign the kingdom reached its greatest territorial extent. The epigraphists do not tell us

anything about Mir Muhammad Zaman, the builder of the mosque. But one thing is clear from the mention
of Imam ^ All in the inscription, namely, that Mir Muhammad Zaman was a Shi^ah.

11. Poonamalle

This is a town in the Sriperumbudur Taluka of Chingleput District in Tamil Nadu. It has a mosque which
has two inscriptions, one in Persian and the other in Telugu. The Persian inscription states that the mosque

was built in AH 1063 (AD 1653) in the reign of Sultan ^Abdullah Qutb Shah (AD 1626-1672) of the Qutb
Shahi dynasty of Golconda when Mir Jumla was the governor of the Carnatic province. The builder was
Rustam ibn Zul-Fiqar of Istarabad in Iran. ^In the margin of the tablet,^ writes the epigraphist, G.
Yazdani, ^two Persian couplets are carved, the letters of which have been abraded by the effect of
weather. The following words, however, can be deciphered: ^Destroyed the house of idols^ and built a
mosque, demolished^ infidels^ built^.^ -

The Telugu version, engraved below the Persian inscription, mentions Rustam, the builder, as
^ Havaluda.ru of the fort at Punamalli^ and Mir Jumla as ^Hajarati Navabu-Sahebulugaru, the agent of
Hajarati Alampanna Sultanu Abdulla Kutupu ^abarajugaru, the lord of Golconda throne.^ The mosque, it
says, is ^>to last as long as the Moon and Sun,^> and ^those that cause obstruction (to it) will incur the sin
of killing cow at Ka^i [Varanasi].^ The epigraphist adds, ^The superstructure of the mosque is built of
brick and mortar, the base being of stone, which may have originally formed part of a Hindu temple.^—

Mir Jumla whose name was Muhammad Sayyid was ^>an adventurer from Ardistan in Persia.^ He rose in
the service of the Sultan of Golconda as whose general he invaded the Carnatic and became Governor of
the conquered territories. ^By plundering Hindu temples,^ writes J.N. Chaudhuri, ^and searching out
hidden treasures, Mir Jumla accumulated a vast fortune, and according to Thevnot, he had twenty maunds
of diamonds in his possession. His jagir in Carnatic was like a kingdom^ He was almost an independent
ruler and absented himself from the court of Golconda. Alarmed at the growing power of the Wazir, the
Sultan attempted to bring him under his control but Mir Jumla entered into intrigues with Bijapur and

Persia. Later on, he deserted his first employer and entered the service of the Mughals under
Aurangzeb. He destroyed many Hindu temples while operating as a Mughal general in Kuch Bihar.

12. Udayagiri

It is the headquarters of a Taluka of the same name in the Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh. It is famous
for its fort which was held by the Vijayanagara kings before it fell to the Qutb Shahi rulers of Golconda.
The big mosque on the Udayagiri Hill has a Persian inscription which reads as follows:

^►Ghazi ^ AIT. lord of the age, victor in war^ with the help and support of the victorious king, pivot
(Kutb) of the world, king (Shah) of the throne of the Dakhan, from one end to the other, he (Ghazi ^ Ali )

burnt away the sweepings of idolatry^ with the fire of his sword (he) burnt in one moment the idol of the
idol-worshippers; he killed all, that breaker-through (annihilator) of the army; when he captured the fort of
Udayagiri, the world became full of Jessamine; (he) began to construct the mosque and the date

was, ^Founder of the mosque - (Ghazi) &Ali the iconoclast

The chronogram yields the year AD 1642-43. Ghazi ^ All was presumably a general of Abdullah Qutb
Shah (AD 1626-1672) of Golconda. Nothing more is known about him.

The small mosque on the same Hill carries another Persian inscription which reads as follows:

^During the days of Abdulla Kutb Shah, the pride of kings, Husain Khan secured the blessings of God in
that he constructed a new mosque and embellished it. May God accept it for the purpose of prayers. A
thousand and sixty and ten and one elapsed from Hijra (AD 1660-61). He destroyed a temple and

constructed the House of God. ^

Husain also was most probably another general of the same Sultan of Golconda. Histories of the reign or
period do not supply information about his status or role.

13. Bodhan

It is the headquarters of a Taluka of the same name in the Nizamabad District of Andhra Pradesh. ^The
place,^ writes G. Yazdani, ^is strewn with sculptures of Jaina and Brahmanical professions of

faith^ Contemporary history does not mention Bodhan; but the array of antiquities and the discovery of
both Hindu and Muslim inscriptions in recent times establish the fact that the town possessed considerable
religious and strategic importance in early days.^

The town has a mosque known as Deval Masjid. It carries two inscriptions which state that it was built in
the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq (AD 1325-1351). ^The Deval Masjid,^ comments G. Yazdani, ^as its
name signifies, was originally a Hindu temple, and converted into a mosque by Muhammad Tughlaq at the
time of his conquest of the Deccan. The plan of the building is star-shaped; it has undergone little alteration
at the hands of Moslems excepting the removal of the shrine-chamber and the setting up of a pulpit. The
original arrangement of the pillars remains undisturbed and the figures of tirthankaras may be noticed on

some of them to this day. The date of the conversion of this temple into a mosque is not mentioned in
the inscriptions. The building of the temple is assigned by experts to 9-10th century AD.

The eastern part of the same town has a small mosque known as the ^ Alarngiri Masjid. One of the two
inscriptions on this mosque reads as under:

^In obedience to the commandment of the Almighty God, the Lord of both the worlds; and in love of^
the exalted Prophet: During the reign of Shahjahan, the king of the seven climes, the viceregent of God (lit.
Truth), the master of the necks of peopled the benevolent and generous Prince Aurangzeb, whose
existence is a blessing of the Merciful God on people: He built a house for worship with (all) the qualities
of heaven: after the site has been previously occupied by the temple of infidels^ ^ —

The chronogram, &Most blessed House given at the end of the inscription yields the year AH 1065 (AD
1655) ^ which tallies with the period of Aurangzeb^s governorship of the Deccan, shortly before his
marching upon Delhi against his imperial father.

14. Mathura

The Jami ❖ Masjid in the heart of this Hindu city has a Persian inscription which reads as follows:

❖in the reign of Shah ❖Alamgir Muhiu^ddin Walmillah, the king of the world, Aurangzeb, who is
adorned with justice, the lustre of Islam shone forth to the glory of God; for ❖Abd-un-Nabi Khan built this
beautiful mosque. This second ❖Holy Templet caused the idols to bow down in worship. You will see
the true meaning of the text, ❖Truth came and error vanished. ❖'— Whilst I search for a tarikli, a voice
came from blissful Truth ordering me to say ❖Abd-un-Nabi Khan is the builder of this beautiful
mosque.❖ May this Jama Masjid of majestic structure shine forth for ever like the hearts of the pious! Its
roof is high like aspirations of love; its court-yard is wide like the arena of thought. ❖—

The chronogram which contains the name of the builder, ❖Abdu^n-Nabi Khan, yields the year AH 1470

corresponding to AD 1660-1661. ❖ Abdu^n-Nabi Khan had risen high in the service of Shah Jahan. He
fought on the side of Dara Shukoh in the decisive Battle of Samugadh in 1658. After the defeat and flight
of Dara Shukoh, he joined service under Aurangzeb who appointed him faujdar in various places. ❖Abdun
Nabi Khan,^ says Ma &sir- &Alamgtri, ❖after removal from his post in Fathpur Jhunjhnu, was created a
2 -hazari and appointed faujdar of Mathura. ❖ 11 Jadunath Sarkar adds, ❖Aurangzeb chose him as faujdar of
Mathura probably because he, being ❖a religious man ❖ (as the Court history calls him), was expected to
enter heartily into the Emperor^s policy of 'rooting out idolatry. ❖ Soon after joining this post Abdun

Nabi built a Jama^ Masjid in the heart of the city of Mathura (1661-1662) on the ruins of a Hindu
temple. Later, in 1669, he forcibly removed the carved stone railing presented by Dara Shukoh to Keshav
Rai ❖s temple. When in 1669, the Jat peasantry rose under the leadership of Gokla, the zamindar of Tilpat,
Abdun Nabi marched out to attack them in the village of Bashara, but was shot dead during the encounter
(about 10th May).^

15. Gwalior

There is a small mosque on the right hand side of the GaNe^a Gate in the fort at Gwalior, headquarters of
a District in Madhya Pradesh. It has a Persian inscription which reads as follows:

In the reign of the great Prince Alamgir,

Like the full shining moon.

The enlightener of the world.

Praise be to God that this happy place,

Was by Motamid Khan completed as an alms.

It was the idol temple of the vile Gwali,

He made it a mosque, like a mansion of paradise.

The Khan of enlightened heart.

Nay light itself from head to foot.

Displayed the divine light, like that of mid-day.

He closed the idol temple:

Exclamations rose from earth to heaven.

When the light put far away the abode of darkness,
Hatif said flight be blessed. ❖"

❖Gwali^ mentioned in the inscription refers to the famous Siddha Gawalipa after whom Gwalior is
supposed to have been named. Whatever be the truth of the legend, a temple dedicated to Gawalipa did
exist at the site now occupied by the mosque. A small temple dedicated to the Siddha exists even now in
the vicinity of the mosque. It seems to have been built after the fort was freed from Muslim occupation.

Mu^tmad Khan who destroyed the original temple and built the mosque on its site was the Governor of
Gwalior under Aurangzeb. The chronogram in the inscription gives AH 1075 (AD 1664) as the date when
the mosque was completed.

16. Akot

It is the headquarters of a Taluka of the same name in the Akola District of Maharashtra. The
central mihrab of its Jami^> Masjid carries a Persian inscription which reads as follows:

❖in the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. There is no god except Allah. Muhammad is His

Prophet, verily. In the just reign of ❖ Alamgir, the king who is the asylum of Faith (and) whose universal
generosity makes the sea and mine shame-stricken, one of his devoted servants, Muhammad Ashraf of god
faith, saw a place where there was a temple. Like Khalil (Prophet Abraham), he broke the temple at the
command of God, and arranged for the construction of a very steadfast mosque. Year (AH) one thousand

and seventy-eighth (AH 1078 = AD 1667).—

Nothing is known from history about Muhammad Ashraf who constructed this Jamih Masjid, though it
ran be surmised that he was some official of the Mughal empire under Aurangzeb (AD 1658-1707).

17. Bidar

It is the headquarters of a District of the same name in the State of Karnataka. It was the capital of the
Bahmani Empire from AD 1422 to 1569 when it became the seat of the Barid Shahi kingdom, one of the
five Muslim states which arose on the eclipse of the Bahmani dynasty. There is a small mosque on the
slope of a mountain, some two miles to the south-east of Bidar. It has an inscription in Persian which says:

❖God there is none but He and we worship not anyone except Him. (He) built a mosque in place of the
temple, and wrote over its door the (Qur&anic) verse-❖Verily, We conquered.❖ When the exalted
mind of the Khedive, the refuge of Religion, supported by Divine Grace, Abu^z-Zafar MuHi-ud-din

Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur ❖Alamgir, the victorious, was inclined to, and occupied in, destroying
the base of infidelity and darkness and to strengthen the foundation of Islamic religion, the humblest
servant Mukhtar Khan al-Husaini as-Sabzwari, the governor of the province of Zafarabad, demolished the
temple and built a mosque and laid out a garden which by the Grace of the Omniscient God were

completed on the 25th of Rabi^-ul-Awwal in the 14th year of the auspicious reign (AH 1082)
corresponding with the date contained in this hemistich-By the Grace of God this temple became a
mosque ❖ ❖ 55

The corresponding year of the Christian era was 1670. Aurangzeb was the Mughal emperor from AD 1658-
1707. Mukhtar Khan was his local officer. It may be noticed that Bidar is described as Zafarabad in this
inscription. This is only one instance of many attempts to Islamicise the names of Indian cities, towns and
even villages. Many of these Islamic place-names have become current so that the original names have to
be excavated from ancient records. Others did not stick and are found only in Muslim histories.

18. Siruguppa

This is now a small town in the Bellary Taluka of the Bellary District of Karnataka. The name means
^pile of wealth^ which is justified by its location in a rich wet land as compared to the dry land around it.
Its Lad Khan^s Masjid has a Persian inscription regarding the construction of the mosque. ^The present
building of the mosque,^ writes G. Yazdani, ^>is of modest dimensions and does not seem to be very old,
but it is not unlikely that it stands upon the site of an older mosque.^ - The inscription reads as follows:

^In Eternity when the Founder of the Fort of ^blue firmament^ opened the gates of grace and

benevolence and mercy into the face of mankind, since then a ball of ^religionand ^ stated, justice
and benevolence, was thrown in the pologround and arena of the world. Each of the rulers, monarchs and
sovereigns came (into this world) in turn, and manifested majesty according to his ^star^; (each)
gallopped the horse of ambition, but could not bear away the ball, hence (each) threw down the ball of his
head on the chaughan of ^prostration^. Now when the turn of Mas^ud Khan came, he bore away the
ball with the chaughan of courage. Know him of pure faith and belief, and of mature fortune and glory; his
justice has been praised by Naushirwan and his generosity (applauded) by Hatim. The court of his (kingly)
grace is (resplendent) like the Moon; but in the battle-field his awe destroys heads, his wrath and grace in
respect of infidelity and faith add darkness and light (to each). Destroyed temples and idols and built

mosques and Mihrabs, levelled the mountains in several places and raised walls touching the sky^>^

The inscription goes on to credit Mas^Kid Khan with the construction of a gate at Adoni and another at
Sirkopa (Siruguppa) in the year AH 1086, corresponding to AD 1674. ^TMas^Kid Khan^s name,^
comments G. Yazdani, ^>is given by Khafi Khan in connection with the conquest of the fortress of Adoni

by the Mughal army under Firoz Jang in AH 1098-99 (AD 1687-88). Mas^ud Khan defended the fort
gallantly on behalf of the Bijapur king, but being unsuccessful in repulsing the Imperial troops, he
ultimately made over to them the key of the Fortress and asked for the safety of his life. His bragging
about his own prowess was of no avail when he was faced with superior military might.

19. Cuddapah

It is the headquarters of a District of the same name in the State of Andhra Pradesh. Kadapa means a
^►gate^ in Telegu and the name is said to be derived from the fact that Cuddapah town is the gate to the

holy places at Tirupati. it The District was a part of the Chola Empire of Tanjore from the eleventh to the
thirteenth century. In the fourteenth century it became a part of the Vijayanagara Empire. The Qutb Shahi
Sultans of Golconda seized it after the defeat of Vijayanagara in 1565 and renamed it Neknamabad. It
passed under Mughal rule in 1688.

A mosque in Cuddapah town carries an inscription which reads as follows:

❖in the name of God, the most Merciful and Compassionate. Praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds, and
blessing and peace be upon Muhammad, the apostle of God, and upon all his descendants and companions.
O God, help Islam and the Muslims by preserving the kingdom of Abu^z-.Zafar Muhiu^d-Din

Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur ❖Alamgir, the victorious king. Blessed be the ruler of the world, the
refuge of the universe; whose name effaces the existence of sin. Since the time of Timur who conquered the
kingdom of Romans, there has been no ruler just like the present king (Aurangzeb). The bow which he has
stretched by his powerful arms, is such that the echo of its twing has reached the (distant) seas. By the
sword, which the powerful king has wielded, panic has sprung (even) in the ocean. Although the king of the
time is not a prophet, yet there is no doubt in his being a friend of God. He built the mosque and broke the

idols (at a time) when 1103 years had passed from the flight (of the Prophet). ❖"-

The year AH 1103 corresponds to AD 1692. The first two lines of the inscription are in Arabic and eight
hemistiches that follow are in Persian. Aurangzeb needs no introduction.

20. Surat

It is a large town and the headquarters of a District of the same name in the State of Gujarat. A prosperous
port on the West Coast of India since ancient times, it passed under Muslim rule at the end of the 13th
century. As a gateway to Mecca, it became Bandar Mubarak, the blessed port.

The walls of a stepped well known as Gopi Talao have two Persian inscriptions. The first one in which
several lines are lost reads as follows: ❖ ❖The dust of whose feet is the crown of all. Farrukh Siyar the
king, by the fame of whose justice, the creation and the world are in the cradle of repose. The sky of
beneficence, Haidar Quit Khan during whose reign tyranny has become extinct^ By the grace of God he
completed it^ He laid waste several idol temples, in order to make this strong building fi rm ❖ ❖

The second inscription is intact and reads as follows: ❖[During] the period of the second ❖Alamgir, king
of the faith, Farrukh Siyar, whose sword became the guardian of the realm of Islam. The hand of his justice
struck a blow on the head of Naushirwan (i.e., surpassed him injustice), the country and the nation

everywhere secured tranquility by his justice. Mir ❖ Alam, sincere friend of Haidar Quit Khan, a reservoir
of water constructed in Surat, which became life-giving to the high and the low. Salsabil (a fountain of
Paradise) of the Ka &ba of heart, this reservoir of the water of life. The inspirer communicated this
chronogram and showed eloquence. As its bricks were taken from an idol temple, one rose and said, Mir
&Alam became the founder of this reservoir by revelation 1130 .❖

The chronogram also yields AH 1130 which corresponds to AD 1718. Haidar Quit Khan mentioned in the
two inscriptions was the Mughal officer in charge of Surat in the reign of the Mughal emperor Farrukh

Siyyar (AD 1713-1719) who got Banda Bairagi tortured and killed and who himself died a dog^s death at
the hands of the Sayyid Brothers. We have a locality in old Delhi which is known as Haveli Haidar Quit.

21. Cumburn

It is the headquarters of a Taluka of the same name in the Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. The
central mihrdb of its Gachinala Masjid carries a Persian inscription which reads as follows:

^He is Allah, may He be glorified, the Most Exalted. During the august rule of the emperor, king of the
world, Muhammad Shah, there was a well-established idol-house in Kuhmum which was strengthened and
fortified by a small fortress. The Khan of lofty dignity (and) of high position, the source of generosity and
mine of beneficence, the Khan who is the master of (high) position, (namely), Muhammad Salih, who
prospers in the rectitude of the affairs of Faith, son of Haji Muhammad Kazim was the ruler of Kuhmum.
He is one of the select grandees of the city of Tabriz which place is celebrated for producing great persons.
(He) razed to the ground the edifice of the idol-house, and also broke the idols in a manly fashion. (He)
constructed on the site a suitable mosque, towering above the buildings of all. The Angel of the Unseen
communicated the date of its construction in the words: A mosque pleasant in appearance, well founded,
and elegant. The year of the migration of the Prophet, may peace (of God) be upon him, was forty-two, one

hundred and one thousand. Year AH 1142.^—

The chronogram also yields AH 1142 which corresponds to AD 1729-30. Muhammad Salih was the
Governor and Nazim of Cumbum in that year under the Mughal emperor, Muhammad Shah (AD 1719-
48).

Conclusions

Three conclusions can be safely drawn from a study of these 21 inscriptions. Firstly, the destruction of
Hindu temples continued throughout the Muslim rule, from the date of its first establishment at Delhi in
AD 1192 to its downfall with the death of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah in 1748. Secondly, the
destruction took place all over India and was undertaken by rulers belonging to all Muslim dynasties,
imperial as well as provincial. Thirdly, the destruction had no economic or political motive as has been
proposed by Marxist scholars and Muslim apologists; it was inspired by religious zeal and regarded as a
pious performance by Muslim kings and commanders, all of whom took considerable pride in it and sought
blessing from Allah and the Prophet. The iconoclasts, it may be added, have been idolised all along as
paragons of faith, virtue, justice and generosity. These conclusions become clearer still when we come to
evidence from Islamic literary sources.

Footnotes:

1 Heinrich Zimmer, Art of Indian Asia, Princeton, Paperback Edition, 1983, Vol. I, p. 201.

2 Ibid., p. 246.

- Ibid., p. 270.

- Ibid., p. 5n.

2 The word ^Hindu^ has been used throughout this book to denote all schools of Sanatoria
Dharma - Brahmanical, Buddhist, and Jain. See Appendix 3 for how the words ^Hindu^ and
^►Hinduism^ have been made to mean what they never meant.

-Annual Report of Indian Epigraphy 1953-54, C-70 and C-71.

1 Ibid., 1963-M, D-286.

— Ibid., 1964-65, D-123. The date is significant. As late as AD 1878, Muslims in Maharashtra took
pride in proclaiming that a Jami ^ Masjid occupied the site of a demolished Hindu temple.

-Ibid., 1978-79, C-56.

-Ibid., 1980-81, C-14.

— Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report 1906-07, p. 196.

— Qeyamuddin Ahmad (c-d.), Patna through the Ages, New Delhi, 1988, p. 64.

— Epigraphia Indo Moslemica, 1911-12, p. 13.

— Ibid., p. 14.

— The Rehala oflbn Battuta, translated into English by Mahdi Hussain, Baroda. 1976, p. 27.

— Ibid., p. 32

1 Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1974, p. 10.

— Ibid., p. 11.

— Ibid., p. 12.

— Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1959-60, p. 73.

— Ibid., p. 72.

— Ibid., p. 73.

— Ibid., p. 72.

— Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1962, p. 58.

— Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica, 1909-10, pp. 4-5.

— Ibid., p. 1.

27 Qur^an, 72.18.

— Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1963, pp. 28-29.

— Ibid., p. 27.

— Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica, 1933-34, p. 36.

— Indian Antiquary, June. 1927, pp. 101-04.

— Babur-Ndma, translated into English by A.S. Beveridge, New Delhi Reprint, 1979, Vol. II, pp.
539-40.

— Majumdar, R.C. (ed.), op. cit, Vol. VII, The Mughal Empire, Bombay, 1974, p. 106.

— Epigraphia Indica -Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1969, p. 69.

— Quoted in Ibid., footnote 2.

— Ibid., p. 70.

— Ibid., p. 71.

— Epigraphia Indo-Mostemica, 1933-34. p. 24.

— Epigraphia lndo-Moslemica, 1937-38, p. 53, footnote 2.

— Ibid., pp. 53-54.

— Majumdar R.C., (ed.), op. cit., Vol. VII, The Mughal Empire, pp. 475-76.

— Allen Buterworth and V. Venugopaul Chetty, Copper-plate and Stone Inscriptions of South
India, Delhi Reprint, 1989, pp. 385-86.

— Ibid., pp. 381-82.

— Epigraphia lndo-Moslemica, 1919-1920, p. 16.

^ Ibid.

— Ibid., p. 18.

— Ibid., p. 17.

— Qur^an, 17.83. This ayat was recited first by Muhammad when he destroyed the idols of pagan
Arabs in the Ka^ba at Mecca.

— The inscription has been reproduced and translated into English by F.S. Growse in his Mathura:
A District Memoir, third edition (1883) reprinted from Ahmadabad in 1978, pp. 150-51.

— Mda &sir-i- &Alamgiri, translated into English by Sir Jadu-Nath Sarkar, Calcutta, 1947, pp. 47-
48.

— Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit., Vol. Ill, pp. 194-95.

— Archaeological Survey of India, Four Reports Made During the Years 1862-63-64-65 by
Alexander Cunningham, Varanasi Reprint, 1972. p. 335.

— Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1963, p. 54.

M Qur^an, 48.1.

— Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica, 1927-28, p. 33.

— Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica, 1921-22, p. 8.

51 Ibid., pp. 11-12.

51 Ibid., p. 10.

— Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series, Madras, New Delhi Reprint. 1985, Vol. I, p. 370.

— Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica, 1937-38, p. 55.

— Epigraphia Indo - Moslemica. 1933-34, p. 42.

— Ibid., p. 41.

— Epigraphia Indica - Arabic and Persian Supplement, 1959, pp. 65-66.

CHAPTER SEVEN
THE LITERARY EVIDENCE

Islamic literary sources provide far more extensive evidence of temple destruction by the Muslim invaders
of India in medieval times. They also cover a larger area, from Sinkiang and Transoxiana in the North to
Tamil Nadu in the South, and from the Seistan province of present-day Iran in the West to Assam in the
East. As we wade through this evidence, we can visualise how this vast area, which was for long the cradle
of Hindu culture, came to be literally littered with the ruins of temples and monasteries belonging to all

schools of Sanatana Dharma-Bauddha, Jaina, ^aiva, ^akta, VaishNava and the rest. Archaeological
explorations and excavations in modern times have proved unmistakably that most of the mosques, mazars,
zidrats and dargahs which were built in this area in medieval times, stood on the sites of and were made
from the materials of deliberately demolished Hindu monuments.

Hundreds of medieval Muslim historians who flourished in India and elsewhere in the world of Islam, have
written detailed accounts of what their heroes did in various parts of the extensive Hindu homeland as they
were invaded one after another. We have had access only to a few of these histories on account of our
limitations in terms of language and resources. Most of the histories pertaining to what are known as
provincial Muslim dynasties, have remained beyond our reach. One thing, however, becomes quite clear
from the evidence we have been able to compile, namely, that almost all Muslim rulers destroyed or
desecrated Hindu temples whenever and wherever they could. Archaeological evidence from various
Muslim monuments, particularly mosques and dargahs, not only confirms the literary evidence but also
adds the names of some Muslim rulers whom Muslim historians have failed to credit with this pious
performance.

We are citing the literary evidence also in a chronological order, that is, with reference to the time at which
a particular work was written and not with reference to the period with which it deals. Appendix 1 Provides
the names and dates of dynasties and kings described in these histories in the context of India. Most of
these histories start with the creation of Adam and Eve or the rise of the Prophet of Islam, and come down
to the time when the authors lived. Glorification of Islam, as its armies invaded various countries and laid
them waste with slaughter and rapine, is their common theme. The writers have exhausted their imagination

in describing g the holocaust that was caused everywhere and in coining names for those whom they look
down upon as infidels and idolaters.-

The apologists of Islam are likely to point out that quite often the instances of iconoclasm have been copied
by succeeding historians from the writings of their predecessors and that this repetition should be kept in
mind while assessing the extent of temple destruction. There is no substance in this argument. Firstly, there
are many instances of temple destruction which are not reported in the histories but which archaeological
evidence proves. Secondly, what is relevant in this context is that the historians regard some instances as
significant enough to bear repetition. It is obvious that no account of some reigns was considered complete
unless the concerned ruler was credited with the destruction of Hindu temples. Had it not been an important
pious performance from the point of view of Islam, it is inconceivable that historians who wrote in times
when the dust of war had settled down, would have cared to mention it. The repetitions are valuable from
another point of view as well. In quite a few cases, succeeding historians add details which are not found in
the preceding accounts. It is immaterial whether the details were missed by the earlier historians or are the

products of the succeeding historians^ imagination. What matters is that the historians thought them fit for
the glorification of Islam.

( 1 )

Futuhii ^►l-Buldan

The author, Ahmad bin Yahya bin Jabir, is known as al-Biladhuri. He lived at the court of Khalifa Al-
Mutawakkal (AD 847-861) and died in AD 893. His history is one of the earliest and major Arab
chronicles. It gives an account of Arab conquests in Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran, Armenia,

Transoxiana, Africa, Spain and Sindh. The account is brought down to Khalifa Mu^tasim^s reign in AD
842. We have had no access to a translation of the full text in a language we know, and have depended on
extracts.

Ibn Samurah (AD 653)

His full name was ^ Abd ar-Rahman bin Samurah bin Habib bin ^ Abd ash-Shams. He was appointed
governor of Seistan after the first Arab invasion of that province in AD 650 was defeated and dispersed. Ibn
Samurah reached the capital of Seistan in AD 653.

Seistan (Iran)

^K)n reaching Dawar, he surrounded the enemy in the mountain of Zur, where there was a famous Hindu
temple.^

^►■^Their idol of Zur was of gold, and its eyes were two rubies. The zealous Musalmans cut off its hands
and plucked out its eyes, and then remarked to the Marzaban how powerless was his idol to do either good
or evil^^-

Qutaibah bin Muslim al-Bahili (AD 705-715)

He was a general of Al-Hajjaj bin Yusuf SaqafT, the notorious Governor of Iraq under Caliph Al-Walid I
(AD 705-715). He was made Governor of Khurasan in AD 705 and is renowned in the history of Islam as

the conqueror of Central Asia right upto Kashghar.

Samarqand (Farghana)

^Other authorities say that Kutaibah granted peace for 700,000 dirhams and entertainment for the
Moslems for three days. The terms of surrender included also the houses of the idols and the fire
temples. The idols were thrown out, plundered of their ornaments and burned, although the Persians used to
say that among them was an idol with which whoever trifled would perish. But when Kutaibah set fire to it

with his own hand, many of them accepted Islam. ^

Muhammad bin Qasim (AD 712-715)

He was the nephew as well as son-in-law of Al-Hajjaj, who sent him to Sindh after more than a dozen
invasions of that province had been defeated by the Hindus.

Debal (Sindh)

❖ ❖The town was thus taken by assault, and the carnage endured for three days. The governor of the town,
appointed by Dahir, fled and the priests of the temple were massacred. Muhammad marked a place for the
Musalmans to dwell in, built a mosque, and left four thousand Musalmans to garrison the placed

❖ ❖❖Ambissa son of Ishak Az Zabbi, the governor of Sindh, in the Khilafat of Mu^tasim billah
knocked down the upper part of the minaret of the temple and converted it into a prison. At the same time
he began to repair the ruined town with the stones of the minaret ❖❖

Multan (Punjab)

❖ ❖He then crossed the Biyas, and went towards Multan^ Muhammad destroyed the water-course; upon
which the inhabitants, oppressed with thirst, surrendered at discretion. He massacred the men capable of
bearing arms, but the children were taken captive, as well as the ministers of the temple, to the number of
six thousand. The Muslamans found there much gold in a chamber ten cubits long by eight broad, and there

was an aperture above, through which the gold was poured into the chamber^ ^

Hasham bin ^Amru al-Taghlabi

He was appointed Governor of Sindh by Khalifa Al-Mansur (AD 754-775) of the Abbasid dynasty. He led
many raids towards different parts of India, both by land and sea.

Kandahar (Maharashtra)

^He then went to Kandahar in boats and conquered it. He destroyed the Budd there, and built in its place a
mosque, ft

( 2 )

Tarikh-i-Tabari

The author, Abu Ja^far Muhammad bin Jarir at-Tabari, is considered to be the foremost historian of Islam.

His Tartkh is regarded as Umdatu &I-Kutab, mother of histories. He was born at Amil in Tabaristan in the
year AD 839. He was educated at Baghdad and lived in Basra and Kufa as well. He travelled to Egypt and
Damascus in order to perfect his knowledge of Traditions. He spent the last days of his life in Baghdad
where he died in AD 922. We have had no access to his work in a translation we could follow. The
citations below are only summaries made by modern historians.

Qutaibah bin Muslim al-Bahili (AD 705-715)

Beykund (Khurasan)

^The ultimate capture of Beykund (in AD 706) rewarded him with an incalculable booty; even more than
had hitherto fallen into the hands of the Mahommedans by the conquest of the entire province of
Khorassaun; and the unfortunate merchants of the town, having been absent on a trading excursion while
their country was assailed by the enemy, and finding their habitations desolate on their return contributed
further to enrich the invaders, by the ransom which they paid for the recovery of their wives and children.
The ornaments alone, of which these women had been plundered, being melted down, produced, in gold,
one hundred and fifty thousand meskals; of a dram and a half each. Among the articles of the booty, is also
described an image of gold, of fifty thousand meskals, of which the eyes were two pearls, the exquisite
beauty and magnitude of which excited the surprise and admiration of Kateibah. They were transmitted by
him, with a fifth of the spoil to Hejauje, together with a request that he might be permitted to distribute, to

the troops, the arms which had been found in the place in great profusion. &

Samarqand (Farghana)

OA breach was, however, at last effected in the walls of the city in AD 712 by the warlike machines of
Kateibah; and some of the most daring of its defenders having fallen by the skill of his archers, the
besieged demanded a cessation of arms to the following day, when they promised to capitulate. The request
was acceded to by Kateibah; and a treaty was the next day accordingly concluded between him and the
prince of Samarkand, by which the latter engaged for the annual payment of ten millions of dirhems, and a
supply of three thousand slaves; of whom it was particularly stipulated, that none should either be in a state
of infancy, or ineffective from old age and debility. He further contracted that the ministers of his religion
should be expelled from their temples and their idols destroyed and burnt; that Kateibah should be allowed

to establish a mosque in the place of the principal temple, in which, to discharge the duties of his faith ^ To
all this, Ghurek, with whatever reluctance, was compelled to subscribe, and he proceeded accordingly to
prepare for the reception of Kateibah; who at the period agreed upon, entered Samarkand with a retinue of
four hundred persons, selected from his own relatives, and the principal commanders of his army. He was
met by Ghurek, with a respect bordering on adoration, and conducted to the gate of the principal temple,
which he immediately entered; and after performing two rekkauts of the ritual of his faith, directed the
images of pagan worship to be brought before him, for the purpose of being committed to the flames. From
this some of the Turks or Tartars of Samarkand, endeavouring to dissuade him, by a declaration, that

among the images, there was one, which if any person ventured to consume, that person should certainly
perish; Kateibah informed them, that he should not shrink from the experiment, and accordingly set fire to
the whole collection with his own hands; it was soon consumed to ashes, and fifty thousand meskals of

gold and silver, collected from the nails which has been used in the workmanship of the images.^

Ya^qub bin Laith (AD 870-871)

He was a highway robber who succeeded in seizing Khurasan from the Tahirid governors of the Abbasid
Caliphate. He founded the short-lived Saffarid dynasty.

Balkh and Kabul (Afghanistan)

^>He first took Bamian, which he probably reached by way of Herat, and then marched on Balkh where he
ruined (the temple) Naushad. On his way back from Balkh he attacked Kabuli

^►Starting from Panjhir, the place he is known to have visited, he must have passed through the capital city
of the Hindu ^>ahis to rob the sacred temple - the reputed place of coronation of the ^ahi rulers-of its
sculptural wealth■4^—

^The exact details of the spoil collected from the Kabul valley are lacking. The Tarikh [-i-Sistan] records
50 idols of gold and silver and Mas^udi mentions elephants. The wonder excited in Baghdad by elephants
and pagan idols forwarded to the Caliph by Ya^qub also speaks for their high value.

^>The best of our authorities put the date of this event in 257 (870-71). Tabari is more precise and says that
the idols sent by Ya^qub reached Baghdad in Rabi^ al-Akhar, 257 (Feb.-March, 871). Thus the date of
the actual invasion may be placed at the end of AD 870.^—

(3)

Tarikhu'l-Hind

^>The author, Abu Rihan Muhammad bin Ahmad al-Biruni al-Khwarizmi, was born in about AD 970-71.
He was an astronomer, geometrician, historian and logician. He was sent to Ghazni in an embassy from the
Sultan of Khwarizm. On invitation from Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030) he entered his service,
travelled to India and spent forty years in the country, chiefly in the Punjab. He learnt Sanskrit and
translated some works from that language into Arabic. His history treats of the literature and learning of the
Hindus at the commencement of the eleventh century.

Jalam ibn Shaiban (Ninth century AD)

Multan (Punjab)

The Sun Temple at Multan has been described by early Arab geographers like Sulaiman, Mas^Kidi,

Istakhri and Ibn Hauqal who travelled in India during the ninth and tenth centuries of the Christian era. The
Arab invaders did not destroy it because besides being a rich source of revenue, it provided protection

against Hindu counter-attack. ^Multan,wrote Mas^udi, ^>is one of the strongest frontier places of the

Musalmans^ In it is the idol also known by the name of Multan.— The inhabitants of Sind and India
perform pilgrimages to it from the most distant places; they carry money, precious stones, aloe wood and
all sorts of perfumes there to fulfil their vows. The greatest part of the revenue of the king of Multan is

derived from the rich presents brought to the idol ^ When the unbelievers— march against Multan and the
faithful — do not feel themselves strong enough to oppose them, they threaten to break their idol, and their
enemies immediately withdraw.^ 1

Al-Biruni records: 4k A famous idol of theirs was that of Multan, dedicated to the sun, and therefore
called Aditya. It was of wood and covered with red Cordovan leather; in its two eyes were two red rubies. It
is said to have been made in the last Kritayuga4k When Muhammad Ibn Alkasim Ibn Almunabih
conquered Multan, he inquired how the town had become so very flourishing and so many treasures had
there been accumulated, and then he found out that this idol was the cause, for there came pilgrims from all

sides to visit it. Therefore he thought it best to have the idol where it was, but he hung a piece of cow^s

flesh on its neck by way of mockery. On the same place a mosque was built. When the

Karmatians— occupied Multan, Jalam Ibn Shaiban, the usurper, broke the idol into pieces and killed its

priests ^

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Thanesar (Haryana)

^>The city of Taneshar is highly venerated by Hindus. The idol of that place is called Cakrasvamin , i.e. the
owner of the cakra, a weapon which we have already described. It is of bronze, and is nearly the size of a
man. It is now lying in the hippodrome in Ghazna, together with the Lord of Somanath, which is a

representation of the penis of Mahadeva, calledL/ngfl.^—

Somnath (Gujarat)

^The linga he raised was the stone of Somnath, for soma means the moon and natha means master, so that
the whole word means master of the moon. The image was destroyed by the Prince Mahmud, may God be
merciful to him! - AH 416. He ordered the upper part to be broken and the remainder to be transported to
his residence, Ghaznin, with all its coverings and trappings of gold, jewels, and embroidered garments. Part
of it has been thrown into the hippodrome of the town, together with th eCakrasvamin, an idol of bronze,
that had been brought from Taneshar. Another part of the idol from Somanath lies before the door of the

mosque of Ghaznin, on which people rub their feet to clean them from dirt and wet. 4k 1

(4)

Kitabu^M-Yamini

The author of this history in Arabic was Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Jabbaru^H-^HJtbi. The

family from Utba had held important offices under the Samanis of Bukhara. ^MJtbi himself became
Secretary to Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030). His work comprises the whole of the reign of
Subuktigin and that of Sultan Mahmud down to the year AD 1020. He lived a few years longer. Persian
translations of this history are known as Tarjuma-i-Yamini or Tarikh-i-Yamtnt.

Amir Subuktigin of Ghazni (AD 977-997)

Lamghan (Afghanistan)

^>The Amir marched out towards Lamghan, which is a city celebrated for its great strength and abounding
wealth. He conquered it and set fire to the places in its vicinity which were inhabited by infidels, and
demolishing idol temples, he established Islam in them. He marched and captured other cities and killed the

polluted wretches, destroying the idolaters and gratifying the Musalmans. 4k

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Narain (Rajasthan)

^>The Sultan again resolved on an expedition to Hind, and marched towards Narain, urging his horses and
moving over ground, hard and soft, until he came to the middle of Hind, where he reduced chiefs, who, up
to that time obeyed no master, overturned their idols, put to the sword the vagabonds^ of that country, and

with delay and circumspection proceeded to accomplish his design^

Nardin (Punjab)

4k After the Sultan had purified Hind from idolatry, and raised mosques therein, he determined to invade
the capital of Hind to punish those who kept idols and would not acknowledge the unity of God^ He
marched with a large army in the year AH 404 (AD 1013) during a dark night^>—

OA stone was found there in the temple of the great Budda on which an inscription was written purporting
that the temple had been founded fifty thousand years ago. The Sultan was surprised at the ignorance of
these people, because those who believe in the true faith represent that only seven thousand years have
elapsed since the creation of the world, and the signs of resurrection are even now approaching. The Sultan
asked his wise men the meaning of this inscription and they all concurred in saying that it was false, and no

faith was to be put in the evidence of a stone. 4k~

Thanesar (Haryana)

^The chief of Tanesar was 4k obstinate in his infidelity and denial of God. So the Sultan marched against
him with his valiant warriors, for the purpose of planting the standards of Islam and extirpating idolatry^ 1

❖The blood of the infidels flowed so copiously, that the stream was discoloured, not withstanding its
purity, and people were unable to drink it^ The victory was gained by God^s grace, who has established
Islam for ever as the best of religions, notwithstanding that idolaters revolt against it^> Praise be to God,
the protector of the world, for the honour he bestows upon Islam and Musulmans.^

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

❖The Sultan then departed from the environs of the city, in which was a temple of the Hindus. The name

of this place was Maharatul Hind ❖ On both sides of the city there were a thousand houses, to which idol
temples were attached, all strengthened from top to bottom by rivets of iron, and all made of masonry
work^>

❖in the middle of the city there was a temple larger and firmer than the rest, which can neither be

described nor painted. The Sultan thus wrote respecting it: - ❖if any should wish to construct a building
equal to this, he would not be able to do it without expending an hundred thousand, thousand red dinars,
and it would occupy two hundred years even though the most experienced and able workmen were

employed ❖❖ The Sultan gave orders that all the temples should be burnt with naptha and fire, and
levelled with the ground. ❖—

Kanauj (Uttar Pradesh)

❖in Kanauj there were nearly ten thousand temples, which the idolaters falsely and absurdly represented to

have been founded by their ancestors two or three hundred thousand years ago ❖ Many of the inhabitants
of the place fled and were scattered abroad like so many wretched widows and orphans, from the fear
which oppressed them, in consequence of witnessing the fate of their deaf and dumb idols. Many of them

thus effected their escape, and those who did not fly were put to death, ❖ 1

(5)

Diwan-i-Salman

The author, Khwajah Mas^ud bin Sa^d bin Salman, was a poet. He wrote poems in praise of the

Ghaznavid Sultans ❖ Mas^ud, Ibrahim and Bahram Shah. He died sometime between AD 1126 and
1131.

Sultan Abu^I Muzaffar Ibrahim (AD 1059-1099)

❖As power and the strength of a lion was bestowed upon Ibrahim by the Almighty, he made over to him
the well-populated country of Hindustan and gave him 40,000 valiant horsemen to take the country, in
which there were more than 1000 rats ❖ Its length extends from Lahore to the Euphrates, and its breadth
from Kashmir to the borders of Sistan^ The army of the king destroyed at one time a thousand temples of

idols, which had each been built for more than a thousand years. How can I describe the victories of the
king^>^>—

Jalandhar (Punjab)

^The narrative of thy battles eclipses the stories of Rustam and Isfandiyar. Thou didst bring an army in

one night from Dhangan to Jalandhar^ Thou didst direct but one assault and by that alone brought
destruction upon the country. By the morning meal not one soldier, not on eBrahman, remained unkilled or
uncaptured. Their beads were severed by the carriers of swords. Their houses were levelled with the ground

with flaming ti re Thou has secured victory to the country and to religion, for amongst the Hindus this
achievement will be remembered till the day of resurrection.

Malwa (Madhya Pradesh)

^►Thou didst depart with a thousand joyful anticipations on a holy expedition, and didst return having

achieved a thousand victories^ On this journey the army destroyed a thousand idol-temples and thy
elephants trampled over more than a hundred strongholds. Thou didst march thy arm to Ujjain; Malwa
trembled and fled from thee^ On the way to Kalinjar thy pomp obscured the light of day. The lip of
infidelity became dry through fear of thee, the eye of plural-worship became blind^^ -

( 6 )

Chach-Namah

This Persian history was translated from Arabic by Muhammad ^>Ali bin Hamid bin Abu Bakr Kufi in the
time of Nasiru^d-Din Qabacha, a slave of Muhammad Ghuri, who contested the throne of Delhi with

Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236). The translator who lived at Uccha had gone to Alor and
Bhakkar in search of accounts of the Arab conquest. He met a Maulana who had inherited a history written
in Arabic by one of his ancestors. The translation in Persian followed because Kufi found that the Hijaji

Arabic of the original was little understood by people in those days while the work was ^a mine of
wisdom.^ The Arabic original has been lost. The author remains unknown.

Muhammad bin Qasim (AD 712-715)

Nirun (Sindh)

^►Muhammad built at Nirun a mosque on the site of the temple of Budh, and ordered prayers to be
proclaimed in the Muhammadan fashion and appointed an Imam. -

Siwistan and Sisam (Sindh)

Muhammad bin Qasim wrote to al-Hajjaj, the governor of Iraq: ^The forts of Siwistan and Sisam have
been already taken. The nephew of Dahir, his warriors, and principal officers have been despatched, and
infidels converted to Islam or destroyed. Instead of idol temples, mosques and other places of worship have
been built, pulpits have been erected, the Khutba is read, the call to prayers is raised so that devotions are
performed at the stated hours. The takbir and praise to the Almighty God are offered every morning and

evening.^

Alor (Sindh)

^►Muhammad Kasim then entered and all the town people came to the temple of Nobhar, and prostrated
themselves before an idol. Muhammad Kasim enquired: ^ Whose house is this, in which all the people
high and low are respectfully kneeling and bowing down.^> They replied: ^This is an idol-house called

Nobhar.^ Then, by Muhammad Kasim^s order, the temple was opened. Entering it with his officers he
saw an equestrian statue. The body of the idol was made of marble or alabaster, and it had on its arms
golden bracelets, set with jewels and rubies. Muhammad Kasim stretched his hand and took off a bracelet

from one of the idol arms. Then he asked the keeper of the Budh temple Nobhar: ^Is this your idol?^
^ Yes,^ he replied, ^but it had two bracelets on, and one is missing.^ ^Well^ said Muhammad
Kasim, ^cannot your god know who has taken away his bracelet?^ The keeper bent his head down.
Muhammad Kasim laughed and returned the bracelet to him, and he fixed it again on the idol ^s arm.^ -

Multan (Punjab)

^Then all the great and principal inhabitants of the city assembled together, and silver to the weight of
sixty thousand dirams was distributed and every horseman got a share of four hundred dirams weight. After
this, Muhammad Kasim said that some plan should be devised for realizing the money to be sent to the

Khalifa. He was pondering over this, when suddenly a Brahman came and said, ^Heathenism is now at an
end, the temples are thrown down, the world has received the light of Islam, and mosques are built instead
of idol temples. I have heard from the elders of Multan that in ancient times there was a chief in this city
whose name was Jibawin, and who was a descendent of the Rai of Kashmir. He was a Brahman and a
monk, he strictly followed his religion, and always occupied his time in worshipping idols. When his
treasures exceeded all limits and computation, he made a reservoir on the eastern side of Multan, which
was hundred yards square. In the middle of it he built a temple fifty yards square, and he made a chamber
in which he concealed forty copper jars each of which was filled with African gold dust. A treasure of three
hundred and thirty mans of gold was buried there. Over it there is an idol made of red gold, and trees are

planted round the reservoir.^ It is related by historians, on the authority of ^Ali bin Muhammad who had
heard it from Abu Muhammad Hindui— that Muhammad Kasim arose and with his counsellors, guards and
attendants, went to the temple. He saw there an idol made of gold, and its two eye were bright red rubies.

Muhammad Kasim ordered the idol to be taken up. Two hundred and thirty mans of gold were
obtained, and forty jars filled with gold dust^ This gold and the image were brought to treasury together
with the gems and pearls and treasures which were obtained from the plunder of Multan.^—

Janaki &s Evidence

Janaki was one of the daughters of King Dahir of Sindh. She was captured along with her sister and sent to
the Khalifa at Baghdad. When the Khalifa invited Janaki to share his bed, she lied to him that she had
already been violated by Muhammad bin Qasim. Her sister supported her statement. The Khalifa ordered
that Muhammad be sewed up in raw hide and sent to his court. Muhammad was already dead when the
chest containing him arrived in Baghdad. Janaki accused the Khalifa of having killed one of his great
generals without making proper enquiry. She said:

❖The king has committed a very grievous mistake, for he ought not, on account of two slave girls, to have
destroyed a person who had taken captive a hundred thousand modest women like us^ and who instead of
temples had erected mosques, pulpits and minarets^^

(7)

Jamiu^l-Hikayat

The author of this collection of stories was Maulana Nuru^d-Din Muhammad ❖ Ufi. He was born in or
near the city of Bukhara in Transoxiana. He came to India and lived in Delhi for some time in the reign of
Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236). He travelled to several other places in India.

❖Amru bin Laith (AD 879-900)

Sakawand (Afghanistan)

❖it is related that Amru Lais conferred the governorship of Zabulistan on Fardaghan and sent him there at
the head of four thousand horse. There was a large Hindu place of worship in that country, which was
called Sakawand, and people used to come on pilgrimage from the most remote parts of Hindustan to the
idols of that place. When Fardaghan arrived in Zabulistan he led his army against it, took the temple, broke

the idols in pieces and overthrew the idolaters ❖❖ -

( 8 )

Taju^l-Ma^sir

The author, Sadru^d-Din Muhammad Hasan Nizami, was born at Nishapur in Khurasan. He had to leave
his ancestral place because of the Mongol invasion. He came to India and started writing his history in AD
1205. The history opens with the year 1191 and comes down to AD 1217.

Sultan Muhammad Ghuri (AD 1175-1206)

Ajmer ( Rajasthan)

❖He destroyed the pillars and foundations of the idol temples and built in their stead mosques and
colleges, and the precepts of Islam, and the customs of the law were divulged and established ❖❖

Kuhram and Samana (Punjab)

4>The Government of the fort of Kohram and of Samana were made over by the Sultan to Kutbu-d din^>
He purged by his sword the land of Hind from the filth of infidelity and vice, and freed it from the thorn of
God-plurality, and the impurity of idol-worship, and by his royal vigour and intrepidity, left not one temple

standing

Meerut (Uttar Pradesh)

^►Kutbu-d dm marched from Kohram ^and when he arrived at Mirat -which is one of the celebrated forts
of the country of Hind, for the strength of its foundations and superstructure, and its ditch, which was as
broad as the ocean and fathomless-an army joined him, sent by the dependent chiefs of the country^. The
fort was captured, and a Kotwal appointed to take up his station in the fort, and all the idol temples were
converted into mosques.^

Delhi

^He then marched and encamped under the fort of Delhi ^ The city and its vicinity were freed from idols
and idols-worship, and in the sanctuaries of the images of the Gods, mosques were raised by the
worshippers of one God.^>

^►Kutbu-d dm built the Jami^ Masjid at Delhi, and adorned it with stones and gold obtained from the
temples which had been demolished by elephants, and covered it with inscriptions in Toghra, containing
the divine commands.^ 4

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)

^From that place [Asni] the royal army proceeded towards Benares ^ which is the centre of the country of
Hind^ and here they destroyed nearly one thousand temples, and raised mosques on their foundations; and
the knowledge of the law became promulgated, and the foundations of religion were established^^

Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh)

Ad here was a certain tribe in the neighbourhood of Kol which had^ occasioned much troubled ^ Three
bastions were raised as high as heaven with their beads, and their carcases became the food of beasts of
prey. That tract was freed from idols and idol-worship and the foundations of infidelity were

destroyed^

Bay ana (Rajasthan)

❖When Kutbu-d dm beard of the Sultanas march from Ghazna, he was much rejoiced and advanced as
far as Hansi to meet him ❖ In the year AH 592 (AD 1196), they marched towards Thangar, and the centre
of idolatry and perdition became the abode of glory and splendour ❖❖

Kalinjar (Uttar Pradesh)

❖in the year AH 599 (AD 1202), Kutbu-d din proceeded to the investment Kalinjar, on which expedition

he was accompanied by the Sahib-Kiran, Shamsu-d din AI tains The temples were converted into
mosques and abodes of goodness, and the ejaculations of bead-counters and voices of summoners to prayer
ascended to high heaven, and the very name of idolatry was annihilated ❖ ❖—

Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236)

Delhi

❖The Sultan then returned [from lalor] to L)cIhi❖ and after his arrival ❖not a vestige or name remained
of idol temples which had raised their heads on high; and the light of faith shone out from the darkness of
infidelity ❖ and the moon of religion and the state became resplendent from the heaven of prosperity and
glory. ❖—

(9)

Kamilu ❖ t-T awarikh

Also known as Tarikh-i-Kamil, it was written by Shykh ❖Abu^l Hasan ❖Ali ibn ❖Abu^l Karam
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn ❖Abdul Karim ibn ❖Abdul Wahid as-Shaibani, commonly known as Ibn

Asir. He was born in AD 1160 in the Jazirat ibn ❖Umar, an island on the Tigris above Mosul. The book
embraces the history of the world from the earliest period to the year AD 1230. It enjoys a very high
reputation.

Khalifa Al-Mahdi (AD 775-785)

Barada (Gujarat)

❖in the year 159 (AD 776) A1 Mahdi sent an army by sea under ❖Abdul Malik bin Shahabu^l
Musamma^i to India^ They proceeded on their way and at length disembarked at Barada. When they
reached the place they laid siege to it^ The town was reduced to extremities, and God prevailed over it in
the same year. The people were forbidden to worship the Budd, which the Muhammadans burned. ❖—

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Unidentified Places (Rajasthan and Gujarat)

OSo he prayed to the Almighty for aid, and left Ghazni on the 10th of Sha^ban AH 414^ with 30,000
horse besides volunteers, and took the road to Multan. After he had crossed the desert he perceived on one
side a fort full of people, in which there were wells. People came down to conciliate him, but he invested

the place, and God gave him victory^ So he brought the place under the sway of Islam, killed the
inhabitants, and broke in pieces their images^

^>The chief of Anhilwara called Bhim, fled hastily^ Yaminu-d daula again started for Somnat, and on his
march he came to several forts in which were many images serving as chamberlains or heralds of Somnat,
and accordingly he (Mahmud) called them Shaitan. He killed the people who were in these places,

destroyed the fortifications, broke in pieces the idols and continued his march to Somnat^

Somnath (Gujarat)

^►This temple of Somnat was built upon fifty-six pillars of teak wood covered with lead. The idol itself
was in a chamber^ Yammu^d daula seized it, part of it he burnt, and part of it he carried away with him
to Ghazni, where he made it a step at the entrance of the Jami ^ masjid^^ 1

( 10 )

Tarikh-i-Jahan-Kusha

4>The author, ^►Alau^d-Din Malik ibn Bahau^d-Din Muhammad Juwaini, was a native of Juwain in
Khurasan near Nishapur. His father who died in AD 1253 was one of the principal revenue officers under
the Mongol ruler of Persia. ^Alau^d-Din followed in his father^s office. He was with Halaku during the

Mongol campaign against the Ismail lians and was later on appointed the governor of Baghdad. He fell
from grace and was imprisoned at Hamadan. He was, however, exonerated and restored to his office which
he retained till his death in AH 681 (AD 1282). His history comes down to the year AD 1255.

Sultan Jalalu^d-Din Mankbarni (AD 1222-1231)

Debal (Sindh)

^The Sultan then went towards Dewal and Darbela and Jaisi^ The Sultan raised a I ami ^ Masjid at
Dewal, on the spot where an idol temple stood. ^

(ID

Tabqat-i-Nasiri

The author, Maulana ^ Ahu Umr ^ Usman Minhaju^d-Din bin Siraju^d-Din al-Juzjani, was born in AD
1193. In 1227 he arrived in Uccha where he was placed in charge of Madrasa-i-Firuzi. He presented

himself to Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish when the latter came to Uccha in 1228. The same year he
accompanied Iltutmish to Delhi and joined the expedition to Gwalior, which city was placed in his charge.
He returned to Delhi in 1238 and took charge of Madrasa-i-Nasiriya. His fortune brightened after

Nasirir^d-Din became the Sultan in 1246; he was appointed Qazi-i-mamalik in 1251. His history starts
with Adam and comes down the year 1260.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Somnath (Gujarat)

^ When Sultan Mahmud ascended the throne of sovereignty, his illustrious deeds became manifest unto all

mankind within the pale of Islam when he converted so many thousands of idol temples into masjids^ He
led an army to Nahrwalah of Gujarat, and brought away Manat, the idol, from Somnath, and had it broken
into four parts, one of which was cast before the entrance of the great Masjid at Ghaznin, the second before

the gateway of the Sultanas palace, and the third and fourth were sent to Makkah and Madinah
respectively.^

The translator comments in a footnote: ^ Among die different coins struck in Mahmud^s reign one bore
the following inscription: ^The right hand of the empire, Mahmud Sultan, son of Nasir-ud-Din Subuk-
Tigin, Breaker of Idols. ^ This coin appears to have been struck at Lahor, in the seventh year of his
reign.

Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236)

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)

^ After he returned to the capital in the year AH 632 (AD 1234) the Sultan led the hosts of Islam toward
Malwah, and took the fortress and town of Bhilsan, and demolished the idol-temple which took three
hundred years in building and which, in altitude, was about one hundred ells.^—

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh)

^►From thence he advanced to Ujjain-Nagari and destroyed the idol-temple of Mahakal Diw. The effigy of
Bikramjit who was sovereign of Ujjain-Nagari, and from whose reign to the present time one thousand,
three hundred, and sixteen years have elapsed, and from whose reign they date the Hindu! era, together
with other effigies besides his, which were formed of molten brass, together with the stone (idol) of

Mahakal were carried away to Delhi, the capital. &

Among his ^Victories and Conquests^ is counted the ^bringing away of the idol of Mahakal, which
they have planted before the gateway of the/ami ^ Masjid at the capital city of Delhi in order that all true

believers might tread upon it.

( 12 )

Asaru^l-Bilad

The author, Zakariya bin Muhammad, was born in the town of Kazwin in Iran and became known as al-
Kazwini. His work is a compilation from the writings of travellers like Istakhri and Ibn Hauqal. It was
written between AD 1263 and 1275.

Sultan Muhmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Somnath (Gujarat)

^►SOMNAT-A celebrated city of India, is situated on the shores of the sea, and washed by its waves.

Among the wonders of that place was the temple in which was placed the idol called Somnath When the
Sultan Yaminu-d Daula Mahmud bin Subuktigin went to wage religious war against India, he made great
efforts to capture and destroy Somnat, in the hope that Hindus would become Muhammadans. He arrived

there in the middle of Zil K^ada AH 416 (December AD 1025). The Indians made a desperate
resistance^ The number of slain exceeded 50,000^^—

Muhammad bin Qasim (AD 712-715)

Multan (Punjab)

^Muhammad Kasim, ascertaining that large offerings were made to the idol, and wishing to add to his
resources by those means, left it uninjured, but in order to show his horror of Indian superstition, he
attached a piece of cow^s flesh to its neck, by which he was able to gratify his avarice and malignity at the
same time.^—

(13)

Nizamu^t-Tawarikh

The author, ^Abu Sa^id ^Abdullah bin ^Abu^l Hasan ^►Ali Baizawi, was born at Baiza, a town near
Shiraz in Iran. He became a Qazi, first at Shiraz and then at Tabriz, where he died in AD 1286. His history
starts from the earliest period and comes down to the Mongol invasions.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

^Nasiru-d din [Subuktigin] died in the year AH 387 (AD 997) and the command of his troops descended
to Mahmud by inheritance, and by confirmation of Nuh, son of Mansur^ He demolished the Hindu

temples and gave prevalence to the Muhammadan faith

(14)

Miftahu'l-Futuh

The author, Amir Khusru, was born at Delhi in 1253. His father occupied high positions in the reigns of
Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236) and his successors. His mother was the daughter of
another dignitary under Sultan Ghiyasu^d-Din Balban (AD 1266-1286). He himself became a companion
of Balban^s son. Prince Muhammad, and stayed at Multan till the prince was killed in a battle with the
Mongols. Reputed to be the dearest disciple of Shykh Nizamu^d-Din Auliya^>, he became the lick-spittle
of whoever came out victorious in the contest for the throne at Delhi. He became a court poet of Balban^s
successor, Sultan Kaiqubad (AD 1288-1290) and wrote his Qiranu &s S &adain in the Sultanas praise in
AD 1289. Next, he joined Sultan Jalalu^d-Dm Khalji (AD 1290-1296) as a court poet after the latter
murdered Kaiqubad. He wrote in 1291 the Miftahu &l-Futuh which describes Jalalu^d-Din^s victories.

Sultan Jalalu^d -Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296)

Jhain (Rajasthan)

^The Sultan reached Jhain in the afternoon of the third day and stayed in the palace of the Raya^ He
greatly enjoyed his stay for some time. Coming out, he took a round of the gardens and temples. The idols
he saw amazed hi m ^ Next day he got those idols of gold smashed with stones. The pillars of wood were

burnt down by his order A cry rose from the temples as if a second Mahmud had taken birth. Two idols
were made of brass, one of which weighed nearly a thousand mans. He got both of them broken, and the
pieces were distributed among his people so that they may throw them at the door of the Masjid on their

return [to Delhi] ^ ^

Another version of the same text is available in the translation by Elliot edited by Dowson:

^►Three days after this, the king entered Jhain at midday and occupied the private apartment of the rai^

He then visited the temples, which were ornamented with elaborate work in gold and silver. Next day he
went again to the temples, and ordered their destruction, as well as of the fort, and set fire to the palace, and

^►thus made hell of paradise While the soldiers sought every opportunity of plundering, the Shah was
engaged in burning the temples, and destroying the idols. There were two bronze idols of Brahma each of
which weighed more than a thousand mans. These were broken into pieces and the fragments distributed

amongst the officers, with orders to throw them down at the gates of the Masjid on their return.^

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)

^ When he advanced from the capital of Karra, the Hindus, in alarm, descended into the earth like ants. He
departed towards the garden of Behar to dye that soil with blood as red as tulip. He cleared the road to
Ujjain of vile wretches, and created consternation in Bhilsan. When he effected his conquests in that

country, he drew out of the river the idols which had been concealed in it.^—

Devagiri (Maharashtra)

^>But see the mercy with which he regarded the brokenhearted, for, after seizing the rai , he set him free
again. He destroyed the temples of the idolaters, and erected pulpits and arches for mosques.^'

(15)

Khazainu ^1-F utuh

This work is also by Amir Khusru who wrote it in praise of ^Alau^d-Din Khalji when the latter became
the Sultan after murdering his uncle and father-in-law, Sultan Jalaltr^d-Din Khalji. Khusru was among the

foremost notables who welcomed ^Alau^d-Din when the latter reached Delhi with the head of the late
king held aloft on the point of a spear. He completed this history in AD 1311. It is famous for its flowery
language and figures of speech.

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Delhi

^He started his building programme with the Jami ^ Hazrat mosque^ Thereafter he decided to build a
second minar opposite to the lofty mina.ro f the Jami Masjid, which minor is unparalleled in the

worlds He ordered the circumference of the new minar to be double that of the old one. People were
sent out in all directions in search of stones. Some of them broke the hills into pieces. Some others proved
sharper than steel in breaking the temples of the infidels. Wherever these temples were bent in prayers, they

were made to do prostration.^—

Somnath (Gujarat)

^>On Wednesday, the 20th of Jamadi-ul Awwal in AH 698 (23 February, 1299), the Sultan sent an order to
the manager of the armed forces for despatching the army of Islam to Gujarat so that the temple of Somnat
on its shore could be destroyed. Ulugh Khan was put in charge of the expedition. When the royal army

reached that province, it won a victory after great slaughter. Thereafter the Khan-i-^Azam went with his
army to the sea-shore and besieged Somnat which was a place of worship for the Hindus. The army of
Islam broke the idols and the biggest idol was sent to the court of the Sultan.

Professor Mohammed Habib^s translation provides a fuller version. It reads: ^>So the temple of Somnath
was made to bow towards the Holy Mecca; and as the temple lowered its head and jumped into the sea, you

may say that the building first said its prayers and then had a bath ^ It seemed as if the tongue of the
Imperial sword explained the meaning of the text: ^So he (Abraham) broke them (the idols) into pieces

except the chief of them, that haply they may return to it. ^ Such a pagan country, the Mecca of the
infidels, now became the Medina of Islam. The followers of Abraham now acted as guides in place of the
Brahman leaders. The robust-hearted true believers rigorously broke all idols and temples wherever they

found them. Owing to the war, &takbir, & and shahadat & was heard on every side; even the idols by
their breaking affirmed the existence of God. In this ancient land of infidelity the call to prayers rose so
high that it was heard in Baghdad and Madain (Ctesiphon) while the ^ Ala^ proclamation ( Kliutba )
resounded in the dome of Abraham and over the water of Zamzam ^ The sword of Islam purified the land
as the Sun purifies the earth. ^ -

Jhain (Rajasthan)

^K)n Tuesday, the 3rd of Ziqad in AH 700 (10 July, 1301), the strong fort [of Ranthambhor] was
conquered. Jhain which was the abode of the infidels, became a new city for Musalmans. The temple of
Bahirdev was the first to be destroyed. Subsequently, all other abodes of idolatry were destroyed. Many
strong temples which would have remained unshaken even by the trumpet blown on the Day of Judgment,

were levelled with the ground when swept by the wind of Islam.

Warangal (Andhra Pradesh)

^ When the blessed canopy had been fixed about a mile from the gate of Arangal, the tents around the fort

were pitched together so closely that the head of a needle could not go between them^ Orders were issued
that every man should erect behind his own tent a kathgar, that is wooden defence. The trees were cut with
axes and felled, notwithstanding their groans; and the Hindus, who worship trees, could not at that time
come to the rescue of their idols, so that every cursed tree which was in that capital of idolatry was cut

down to the roots^

^►During the attack, the catapults were busily plied on both sides'^ Praise be to God for his exaltation of
the religion of Muhammad. It is not to be doubted that stones are worshipped by Gabrs,— but as the stones
did no service to them, they only bore to heaven the futility of that worship, and at the same time prostrated

their devotees upon earths ^

Deccan and South India

^The tongue of the sword of the Khalifa of the time, which is the tongue of the flame of Islam, has

imparted light to the entire darkness of Hindustan by the illumination of its guidance^ and on the right
hand and on the left hand the army has conquered from sea to sea, and several capitals of the gods of the
Hindus in which Satanism had prevailed since the time of the Jinns, have been demolished. All these

impurities of infidelity have been cleansed by the Sultanas destruction of idol temples, beginning with his
first expedition against Deogir, so that the flames of the light of the law illumine all these unholy countries,
and places for the criers to prayers are exalted on high, and prayers are read in mosques. God be

praised !^>-

Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu)

^ After returning to Birdhul, he again pursued the Raja to Kandur^ The Rai again escaped him, and he

ordered a general massacre at Kandur. It was then ascertained that he had fled to Jalkota^ There the Malik
closely pursued him, but he had again escaped to the jungles, which the Malik found himself unable to
penetrate, and he therefore returned to Kandur^ Here he heard that in Brahmastpuri there was a golden
idol, round which many elephants wore stabled. The Malik started on a night expedition against this place,
and in the morning seized no less then two hundred and fifty elephants. He then determined on razing the

beautiful temple to the ground ^ ^K'ou might say that it was the Paradise of Shaddad which, after being
lost, those hellites had found, and that it was the golden Lanka of Ram,^ ^>the roof was covered with
rubies and emeralds^, - ^in short, it was the holy place of the Hindus, which the Malik dug up from its
foundations with the greatest care^ and heads of the Brahmans and idolaters danced from their necks and

fell to the ground at their feet,^ and blood flowed in torrents. ^The stone idol called Ling Mahadeo
which had been a long time established at that place and on which the women of the infidels rubbed their
vaginas for [sexual] satisfaction, these, up to this time, the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to

break.^ The Musalmans destroyed all the lings, ^and Deo Narain fell down, and the other gods who had
fixed their seats there raised their feet, and jumped so high, that at one leap they reached the fort of Lanka,
and in that affright the lings themselves would have fled had they had any legs to stand on. ^ Much gold
and valuable jewels fell into the hands of the Musalmans, who returned to the royal canopy, after executing
their holy project, on the 13th of Zi-1 Ka^da, AH 710 (April 1311 AD). They destroyed an the temples at
Birdhul, and placed the plunder in the public treasury. ^

Madura (Tamil Nadu)

<► After five days, the royal canopy moved from Birdhul on Thursday, the 17th of Zi-1 Ka^da, and arrived
at Kham, and five days afterwards they arrived at the city of Mathra (Madura), the dwelling place of the
brother of the Rai Sundar Pandya. They found the city empty, for the Rai had fled with the Ranis, but had
left two or three elephants in the temple of Jagnar (Jagganath). The elephants were captured and the temple

burnt.

(16)

Dawal Rani-Khizr Khani

Amir Khusru wrote this epic in AD 1315. It is popularly known as &Ashiqa, love-story. Its main theme is
love between Dawal Rani, the captured daughter of the last Hindu King of Gujarat, and Khizr Khan, the
eldest son of ^Alau^d-Din Khalji. It also describes Muslim history in India upto the reign of ^Alau^d-
Din Khalji, including Malik Kaffirms expedition to South India in AD 1310.

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Pattan (Tamil Nadu)

^►There was another rdi in those parts, whose rule extended over sea and land, a Brahmin named Pandya
Guru. He had many cities in his possession, and his capital was Fatan, where there was a temple with an
idol in it laden with jewels^ The rdi, when the army of the Sultan arrived at Fatan, fled away, and what

can an army do without its leader? The Musalmans in his service sought protection from the king^s army,
and they were made happy with the kind of reception they met. 500 elephants were taken. They then struck
the idol with an iron hatchet, and opened its head. Although it was the very Kibla of the accursed gabrs, it

kissed the earth and filled the holy treasury.

(17)

Nuh Siphir

It is the fourth historical mathnavi which Amir Khusru wrote when he was 67 years old. It celebrates the
reign of Sultan Mubarak Shah Khalji. It consists of nin s(nuh) siphirs (parts). In Siphir III, he says that the

Hindus ^worship...stones, beasts, plants and the sun, but they recognize that these things are creations of

God and adore them simply because their forefathers did so. ^

Sultan Mubarak Shah Khalji (AD 1316-1320)

Warrangal (Andhra Pradesh)

^They pursued die enemy to the gates and set everything on fire. They burnt down all those gardens and
groves. That paradise of idol-worshippers became like hell. The fire-worshippers of Bud were in alarm and
flocked round their idols

( 18 )

Siyaru 1-Auliya ^

It was written by Sayyid Muhammad bin Mubarak bin Muhammad ^ Alwi Kirmani known as Amir or Mir
Khwurd. He was the grandson of an Iranian merchant who traded between Kirman in Iran and Lahore, and
who became a disciple of Shykh Faridu^d-Din Ganj-i-Shakar, the Sufi luminary of Ajodhan near Multan.
His father was also a disciple of the same Sufi. The family travelled to Delhi after Shykh Faridas death

and became devoted to Shykh Nizamu^d-Din Auliya^. Mir Khwurd was forced to migrate to Daulatabad
by Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq but allowed to return to Delhi after some time. It was then that he wrote
this detailed biography of the Auliya^ and his disciples.

Shykh Mu^Hn al-Din Chisti of Ajmer (d. AD 1236)

Ajmer (Rajasthan)

^>The other miracle is that before his arrival the whole of Hindustan was submerged by unbelief and idol-
worship. Every haughty man in Hind pronounced himself to be Almighty God and considered himself as
the partner of God. All the people of India used to prostrate themselves before stones, idols, trees, animals,
cows and cow-dung. Because of the darkness of unbelief over this land their hearts were locked and
hardened.

^ All India was ignorant of orders of religion and law. All were ignorant of Allah and His Prophet. None
had seen the Ka^ba. None had heard of the Greatness of Allah.

^Because of his coming, the. Sun of real believers, the helper of religion, Mu^in al-din, the darkness of
unbelief in this land was illumined by the light of Islam.

^Because of his Sword, instead of idols and temples in the land of unbelief now there are

mosques, mihrab and mimbar. In the land where there were the sayings of the idol-worshippers, there is the

sound of ^Allahu Akbar^.

^The descendants of those who were converted to Islam in this land will live until the Day of Judgement;
so too will those who bring others into the fold of Islam by the sword of Islam. Until the Day of Judgement
these converts will be in the debt of Shaykh al-Islam Mu^in al-din Hasan Sijza and these people will be
drawing closer to Almighty Allah because of the auspicious devotion of Mu^in al-din.^—

(19)

Tarikh-i-Wassaf

The author, ^Abdu^llah ibn Fazlu^llah of Shiraz, is known by his literary name which was Wassaf, the

panegyrist. The history he wrote is titled Tazjiyatu 4>l Amsdr Wa Tajriyatu 4>l Asar. But it is popularly
known as Tarikh-i-Wassaf. The first four volumes of the work were published in AD 1300. Later on, the
author added a fifth volume, bringing the history down to AD 1328. The work was dedicated to Sultan
Uljaitu, the Mongol ruler of Iran.

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Somnath (Gujarat)

❖ ❖in short, the Muhammadan army brought the country to utter ruin, and destroyed the lives of the
inhabitants, and plundered the cities, and captured their offspring, so that many temples were deserted and
the idols were broken and trodden under foot, the largest of which was one called Somnat, fixed upon

stone, polished like a mirror of charming shape and admirable workmanship ❖ Its head was adorned with a

crown set with gold and rubies and pearls and other precious stones ❖ and a necklace of large shining
pearls, like the belt of Orion, depended from the shoulder towards the side of the body.

❖The Muhammadan soldiers plundered all these jewels and rapidly set themselves to demolish the idol.
The surviving infidels were deeply affected with grief, and they engaged ❖to pay a thousand pieces of

goltl^ as ransom for the idol, but they were indignantly rejected, and the idol was destroyed, and ^>its
limbs, which were anointed with ambergris and perfumed, were cut off. The fragments were conveyed to
Delhi, and the entrance of the Jami^> Masjid was paved with them, that people might remember and talk of
this brilliant victory.^ Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds. Amen! ^

( 20 )

Tarikh-i-Guzida

The author, Hamdu^HITih bin ^ Abu Bakr bin Hamd bin Nasr Mustaufi of Kazwin in Iran, composed this

work in AD 1329. He was secretary to Ghiyasu^d-Din as well as his father Rashidu^d-Din, the ministers
of Sultan Uljaitu. His work contains matter not found elsewhere.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

❖ ❖He now attacked the fort of Bhim, where was a temple of the Hindus. He was victorious, and obtained
much wealth, including about a hundred idols of gold and silver. One of the golden images, which weighed
a million mishkdls, the Sultan appropriated to the decoration of the Mosque of Ghazni, so that the

ornaments of the doors were of gold instead of iron. ❖—

( 21 )

Masalik^ul Absar fi Mamalik^ul Amsar

The author, Shihabu^d-Din ❖Abu^l Abbas Ahmad bin Yahya bin Fazlu^Mlah al-^H'mrf, was born in
AD 1301. He was educated at Damascus and Cairo. He is considered to be a great scholar of his time and
author of many books. He occupied high positions in Syria and Egypt. This book of his is a large collection
of history, geography and biographies. He himself never visited India about which he based his account on
sources available to him. He died at Damascus in AD 1348.

Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq (AD 1325-1351)

❖The Sultan is not slack in jihad. He never lets go of his spear or bridle in pursuing jihad by land and sea
routes. This is his main occupation which engages his eyes and ears. He has spent vast sums for the
establishment of the faith and the spread of Islam in these lands, as a result of which the light of Islam has
reached the inhabitants and the flash of the true faith brightened among them. Fire temples— have been
destroyed and the images and idols of Budd have been broken, and the lands have been freed from those

who were not included in the darn Islam, that is, those who had refused to become zimmis. Islam has

been spread by him in the far east and has reached the point of sunrise. In the words of ❖ Abu Nasr al-Aini,
he has carried the flags of the followers of Islam where they had never reached before and where no chapter
or verse (of the Qur^an) had ever been recited. Thereafter he got mosques and places of worship erected,
and music replaced by call to prayers ( azan ), and the incantations of fire-worshippers stopped by recitations
of the Qur^an. He directed the people of Islam towards the citadels of the infidels and, by the grace of

Allah, made them (the believers) inheritors of wealth and land and that country which they (the believers)
had never trodden upon ^

^The Sultan who is ruling at present has achieved that which had not been achieved so far by any king. He
has achieved victory, supremacy, conquest of countries, destruction of the forts of the infidels, and
exposure of magicians. He has destroyed idols by which the people of Hindustan were deceived in

vain^^—

( 22 )

F utuhu ^s-Salatin

The author whose full name is not known is famous by his surname of Isami. His forefathers had served the
Sultans of Delhi since the days of Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236). He was born in AD 1311-12
and lived at Daulatabad (Devagiri) till 1351 when he finished this work at the age of forty. It covers the
period from Mahamud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030) to Muhammad bin Tughlaq (AD 1325-1351).

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Devagiri (Maharashtra)

^Malik Naib [Kafur] reached there expeditiously and occupied the fort^> He built mosques in places
occupied by temples.

(23)

Rehala of Ibn Battuta

The full name of this book is Tuhfatu 4hi-nuzzar fi Gharaibu &l-amsar wa Ajdibu 4>l-afsdr. The author was
Shykh ^Abu ^Abdu^llah Muhammad ibn ^Abdu^Hlah ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Lawati at-Tanji

al- Ma^ruf be Ibn Battuta. He belonged to an Arab family which was settled in Spain since AD 1312. His
grandfather and father enjoyed the reputation of scholars and theologians. He himself was a great scholar
who travelled extensively and over many lands. He came to India in 1325 and visited many places - east,
west, north and south - till he left in 1346. India during this period was ruled by Muhammad bin Tughlaq
with whom Ibn Battuta came in close contact. He was very fond of sampling Hindu girls from different
parts of India. They were presented to him by the Sultan and other Muslim big-wigs during his sojourn in
various places. He also married Muslim women wherever he stayed, and divorced them before his
departure. He finished his book in 1355 after reaching Fez in Morocco where his family lived after
migration from Spain.

Lahari Bandar (Sindh)

^>One day I rode in company with ^ Ala-ul-mulk and arrived at a plain called Tarna at a distance of seven
miles from the city. There I saw innumerable stone images and animals, many of which had undergone a
change, the original shape being obliterated.— Some were reduced to a head, others to a foot and so on.

Some of the stones were shaped like grain, wheat, peas, beans and lentils. And there were traces of a house
which contained a chamber built of hewn stone, the whole of which looked like one solid mass. Upon it
was a statue in the form of a man, the only difference being that its head was long, its mouth was towards a

side of its face and its hands at its back like a captive^>s. There were pools of water from which an

extremely bad smell came. Some of the walls bore Hindi inscriptions. ^Ala-ul-mulk told me that the
historians assume that on this site there was a big city, most of the inhabitants of which were notorious.
They were changed into stone. The petrified human form on the platform in the house mentioned above

was that of their king. The house still goes by the name of ^the king^s housed. It is presumed that the
Hindi inscriptions, which some of the walls bear, give the history of the destruction of the inhabitants of
this city. The destruction took place about a thousand years ago^^ -

Delhi

^Near the eastern gate of the mosque lie two very big idols of copper connected together by stones. Every
one who comes in and goes out of the mosque treads over them. On the site of this mosque was a
bud khana that is an idol-house. After the conquest of Delhi it was turned into a mosque^ ^ 1

Maidive Islands

^►Reliable men among the inhabitants of the islands, like the jurist ifaqih ) and teacher (mu &allim) ^ All,
the judge ^Abdullah - and others besides them - told me that the inhabitants of these islands were
infidels^ Subsequently a westerner named Abul Barakat the Berbar who knew the great Qur^an came to
them^ He stayed amongst them and God opened the heart of the king to Islam and he accepted it before

the end of the month; and his wives, children and courtiers followed suit^> They broke to pieces the idols
and razed the idol-house to the ground. On this the islanders embraced Islam and sent missionaries to the
rest of the islands, the inhabitants of which also became Muslims. The westerner stood in high regard with
them, and they accepted his cult which was that of Imam Malik. May God be pleased with him! And on
account of him they honour the westerners up to this time. He built a mosque which is known after his

name^f>

(24)

Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi

The author, Ziau^d-Din Barani was born in AH 684 (AD 1285-86) at Baran, now known as Bulandshahar,
in Uttar Pradesh. His ancestors, paternal as well as maternal, had occupied important positions in the reigns
of Sultan Ghiyasu^d-Din Balban (AD 1266-1286) and the Khaljis. His uncle was a confidant of
^Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316). Barani became a friend of Amir Khusru and a disciple of
Nizamu^d-Din Auliya^, the renowned Chishti saint of Delhi. His prosperity continued in the reign of

Sultan Ghiyasu^d-Din Tughlaq (AD 1320-1325) and he became a favourite of Sultan Muhammad bin
Tughlaq (AD 1325-1351). But he fell from favour with the rise of Sultan Firuz Tughlaq (AD 1351-1388)
and was imprisoned for five months for some offence. He completed this history in AD 1357. It covers a
period of 82 years, from AD 1265 onwards. He wrote several other books among which Fatwa-i-

Jahandari is famous for its tenets regarding how an Islamic state should be run. Barani^s ideal ruler was

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. He exhorted Muslim rulers to follow Mahmud ❖s example in their treatment of
Hindus, for whom he often uses very foul language.

Sultan Jalalu^d-Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296)

Jhain (Rajasthan)

❖in the year AH 689 (AD 1290), the Sultan led an army to Rantambhor^ He took^ Ihain, destroyed the
idol temples, and broke and burned the idols ❖❖

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖Alau^d-din at this time held the territory of Karra, and with the permission of the Sultan he marched
to Bhailsan (Bhilsa). He captured some bronze idols which the Hindus worshipped and sent them on carts
with a variety of rich booty as presents to the Sultan. The idols were laid before the Badaun gate for true

believers to tread upon^^ -

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Somnath (Gujarat)

❖At the beginning of the third year of the reign, Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan, with their amirs and

generals, and a large army marched against Gujarati All Gujarat became a prey to the invaders, and the
idol, which after the victory of Sultan Mahmud and his destruction of (the idol) of Manat, the Brahmans
had set up under the name of Somanat, for the worship of the Hindus, was carried to Delhi where it was

laid for the people to tread upon^^

Ma &bar (Tamil Nadu)

❖ ❖ ❖Malik Naib Kafur marched on to Ma^bar, which he also took. He destroyed the golden idol temple

( but-khanah i-zarin ) of Ma^bar, and the golden idols which for ages had been worshipped by the Hindus
of that country. The fragments of the golden temple, and of the broken idols of gold and gilt became the
rich spoil of the army ❖ ❖—

(25)

Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi

The author. Shams Siraj Afif or Shamsu^d-Din bin Siraju^d-Din, became a courtier of Sultan Firuz Shah
Tughlaq and undertook to complete the aforementioned history of Barani who had stopped at the sixth year

of Firuz Shah^s reign.

Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-1388)

Puri (Orissa)

^>The Sultan left Banarasi with the intention of pursuing the Rai of Jajnagar, who had fled to an island in

the river^ News was then brought that in the jangal were seven elephants, and one old she-elephant,
which was very fierce. The Sultan resolved upon endeavouring to capture these elephants before continuing
the pursuit of the Rai... —

^ After the hunt was over, the Sultan directed his attention to the Rai of Jajnagar, and entering the palace

where he dwelt he found many fine buildings. It is reported that inside the Rai^s fort, there was a stone
idol which the infidels called Jagannath, and to which they paid their devotions. Sultan Firoz, in emulation
of Mahmud Subuktigin, having rooted up the idol, carried it away to Delhi where he placed it in an

ignominious position^

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

^The idol, Jwalamukhi, much worshipped by the infidels, was situated on the road to Nagarkot^ Some of
the infidels have reported that Sultan Firoz went specially to see this idol and held a golden umbrella over
it. But the author was informed by his respected father, who was in the Sultanas retinue, that the infidels
slandered the Sultan, who was a religious. God-fearing man, who, during the whole forty years of his reign,
paid strict obedience to the law, and that such an action was impossible. The fact is, that when he went to
see the idol, all the rats, ranas and zamindars who accompanied him were summoned into his presence,

when he addressed them, saying, ^>0 fools and weak-minded, how can ye pray to and worship this stone,

for our holy law tells us that those who oppose the decrees of our religion, will go to hell? ^ The Sultan
held the idol in the deepest detestation, but the infidels, in the blindness of their delusion, have made this
false statement against him. Other infidels have said that Sultan Muhammad Shah bin Tughlik Shah held an
umbrella over the same idol, but this is also a lie; and good Muhammadans should pay no heed to such
statements. These two Sultans were sovereigns especially chosen by the Almighty from among the faithful,
and in the whole course of their reigns, wherever they took an idol temple they broke and destroyed it; how,

then, can such assertions be true? The infidels must certainly have lied!^ -

Delhi

A report was brought to the Sultan that there was in Delhi an old Brahman (zunar dar) who persisted in
publicly performing the worship of idols in his house; and that people of the city, both Musulmans and
Hindus, used to resort to his house to worship the idol. The Brahman had constructed a wooden tablet

(muhrak ), which was covered within and without with paintings of demons and other objects^ An order
was accordingly given that the Brahman, with his tablet, should be brought into the presence of the Sultan
at Firozabad. The judges and doctors and elders and lawyers were summoned, and the case of the Brahman
was submitted for their opinion. Their reply was that the provisions of the Law were clear: the Brahman
must either become a Musulman or be burned. The true faith was declared to the Brahman, and the right

course pointed out, but he refused to accept it. Orders were given for raising a pile of faggots before the
door of the darbdr. The Brahman was tied hand and foot and cast into it; the tablet was thrown on top and
the pile was lighted. The writer of this book was present at the darbdr and witnessed the execution. The
tablet of the Brahman was lighted in two places, at his head and at his feet; the wood was dry, and the fire
first reached his feet, and drew from him a cry, but the flames quickly enveloped his head and consumed

him. Behold the Sultanas strict adherence to law and rectitude, how he would not deviate in the least from

its decrees!^

(26)

Insha-i-Mahru

The author, Ainu^d-Din Abdullah bin Mahru, was a high official in the court of Sultan Firuz Shah
Tughlaq. Insha-i-Mahru is a collection of 133 letters related to various events.

Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-1388)

Jajnagar ( Orissa)

^The victorious standards set out from Jaunpur for the destruction of idols, slaughter of the enemies of
Islam and hunt for elephants near Padamtalav^ The Sultan saw Jajnagar which had been praised by all
travellers^—

^The troops which had been appointed for the destruction of places around Jajnagar, ended the conceit of
the infidels by means of the sword and the spear. Wherever there were temples and idols in that area, they
were trampled under the hoofs of the horses of Mu salmans^ —

^ After obtaining victory and sailing on the sea and destroying the temple of Jagannath and slaughtering
the idolaters, the victorious standards started towards Delhi

(27)

Futuhat-i-Firuz Shahi

This small history was written by Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-1388) himself. The writer
of Tabqdt-i-Akbari, Nizam^ud-Din Ahmad, a 16th century historian, says that the Sultan had got the eight
chapters of his work inscribed on eight slabs of stone which were fixed on eight sides of the octagonal
dome of a building near the Jami^> Masjid at Firuzabad.

Prayers for Temple-destroyers of the Past

^The next matter which by God^s help I accomplished, was the repetition of names and titles of former
sovereigns which had been omitted from the prayers of Sabbaths and Feasts. The names of those sovereigns
of Islam, under whose happy fortune and favour infidel countries had been conquered, whose banners had
waved over many a land, under whom idol-temples had been demolished , and mosques and pulpits built

and exalted, the fragrant creed had been extended, and the people of Islam had waxen strong and warlike,
the names of these men had fallen into neglect and oblivion. So I decreed that according to established
custom their names and titles should be rehearsed in the khutba and aspirations offered for the remission of

their sins.^—

Delhi and Environs

^►The Hindus and idol-worshippers had agreed to pay the money for toleration ( zar-i zimmiya) and had
consented to the poll-tax (jizya) in return for which they and their families enjoyed security. These people
now erected new idol-temples in the city and the environs in opposition to the Law of the Prophet which
declares that such temples are not to be tolerated. Under divine guidance I destroyed these edifices and I
killed those leaders of infidelity who seduced others into error, and the lower orders I subjected to stripes
and chastisement, until this abuse was entirely abolished. The following is an instance:- In the village of
Maluh— there is a tank which they call kund (tank). Here they had built idol-temples and on certain days
the Hindus were accustomed to proceed thither on horseback, and wearing arms. Their women and children

also went out in palankins and carts. There they assembled in thousands and performed idol-worship^
When intelligence of this came to my ears my religious feelings prompted me at once to put a stop to this
scandal and offence to the religion of Islam. On the day of the assembly I went there in person and I
ordered that the leaders of these people and the promoters of this abomination should be put to death. I
forbade the infliction of any severe punishments on Hindus in general, but I destroyed their idol-temples,
and instead thereof raised mosques. I founded two flourishing towns ( kasba ), one called Tughlikpur, the

other Salarpur. Where infidels and idolaters worshipped idols, Musulmans now, by God ^s mercy, perform
their devotions to the true God. Praises of God and the summons to prayer are now heard there, and that
place which was formerly the home of infidels has become the habitation of the faithful, who there repeat
their creed and offer up their praises to God.

^►Information was brought to me that some Hindus had erected a new idol temple in the village of
Salihpur, and were performing worship to their idols. I sent some persons there to destroy the idol temple,
and put a stop to their pernicious incitements to error. ^

Gohana (Haryana)

^►Some Hindus had erected a new idol-temple in the village of Kohana, and the idolaters used to assemble
there and perform their idolatrous rites. These people were seized and brought before me. I ordered that the
perverse conduct of the leaders of this wickedness should be publicly proclaimed, and that they should be
put to death before the gate of the palace. I also ordered that the infidel books, the idols, and the vessels
used in their worship, which had been taken with them, should all be publicly burnt. The others were
restrained by threats and punishments, as a warning to all men, that no zimrhi could follow such wicked

practices in a Musulman country.

( 28 )

Sirat-Firuz Shahi

It is a text either written or dictated by Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq himself. According to this book, the

objects of his expedition to Jajnagar were: ^extirpating Rai Gajpat, massacring the

unbelievers, demolishing their temples, hunting elephants, and getting a glimpse of their enchanting

country.^ Ain-ul-Mulk also says, ^The object of the expedition was to break the idols, to shed the
blood of the enemies of Islam (and) to hunt elephants.^ —

Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-1388)

Puri ( Orissa)

Allah, who is the only true God and has no other emanation, endowed the king of Islam with the strength
to destroy this ancient shrine on the eastern sea-coast and to plunge it into the sea, and after its destruction,
he ordered the nose of the image of Jagannath to be perforated and disgraced it by casting it down on the
ground. They dug out other idols, which were worshipped by the polytheists in the kingdom of Jajnagar,
and overthrew them as they did the image of Jagannath, for being laid in front of the mosques along the
path of the Sunnis and way of the musallis (the multitude who offer prayers) and stretched them in front of
the portals of every mosque, so that the body and sides of the images may be trampled at the time of ascent

and descent, entrance and exit, by the shoes on the feet of the Muslims. ^"

(29)

Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi

The author, Yahya bin Ahmad bin Abdu^Hlah Sirhindi, lived in the reign of Sultan Muizu^d-Din Abu^M
Fath Mubarak Shah (AD 1421-1434) of the Sayyid dynasty which ruled at Delhi from AD 1414 to 1451.
This history starts from the time of Muhammad Ghuri (AD 1175-1206) and closes with the year AD 1434.

Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236)

Vidisha and Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh)

^In AH 631 he invaded Malwah, and after suppressing the rebels of that place, he destroyed that idol-
temple which had existed there for the past three hundred years.

^►Next he turned towards Ujjain and conquered it, and after demolishing the idol-temple of Mahakal, he
uprooted the statue of Bikramajit together with all other statues and images which were placed on
pedestals, and brought them to the capital where they were laid before the Jami ^ Masjid for being trodden
under foot by the people. ^ —

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Somnath (Gujarat)

^Ulugh Khan invaded Gujarat. He sacked the whole country^ He pursued the Rai upto Somnath. He
destroyed the temple of Somnath which was the principal place of worship for the Hindus and great Rais
since ancient times. He constructed a mosque on the site and returned to Delhi —

(30)

Tarikh-i-Muhammadi

The author, Muhammad Bihamad Khani was the son of the governor of Irich in Bundelkhand. He was a
soldier who participated in several wars. At last he became the disciple of a Sufi, Yusuf Buddha, of Irich
and spent the rest of his life in religious pursuits. His history covers a long period - from Prophet
Muhammad to AD 1438-39.

Sultan Ghiyasu^d-Din Tughlaq Shah II (AD 1388-89)

Kalpi (Uttar Pradesh)

❖in the meanwhile Delhi received news of the defeat of the armies of Islam which were with Malikzada

Mahmud bin Firuz Khan^ This Malikzada reached the bank of the Yamuna via Shahpur and renamed
Kalpi, which was the abode and centre of the infidels and the wicked, as Muhammadabad, after the name of
Prophet Muhammad. He got mosques erected for the worship of Allah in places occupied by temples, and

made that city his capital. ❖

Sultan Nasiru^d-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq (AD 1389-1412)

Kalpi (Uttar Pradesh)

❖Historians have recorded that in the auspicious year AH 792 (AD 1389-90) Sultan Nasiru^d-Din got
founded a city named Muhammadabad, after the name of Prophet Muhammad, at a place known as Kalpi
which was a home of the accursed infidels, and he got mosques raised in place of temples for the worship
of Allah. He got palaces, tombs and schools constructed, and ended the wicked ways of the infidels, and

promoted the Shariat of Prophet Muhammad ❖ ❖—

Khandaut (Uttar Pradesh)

❖He laid waste KhaNdaut which was the home of infidels and, having made it an abode of Islam, founded
Mahmudabad after his own name. He got a splendid palace and fort constructed there and established all
the customs of Islam in that city and place. ❖ ' !

Prayag and Kara (Uttar Pradesh)

❖The Sultan moved with the armies of Islam towards Prayag and Arail with the aim of destroying the
infidels, and he laid waste both those places. The vast crowd which had collected at Prayag for worshipping
false gods was made captive. The inhabitants of Kara were freed from the mischief of rebels on account of

this aid from the king and the name of this king of Islam became famous by this reason. ❖ 1 —

(31)

Jawaniiii^H Kilam

The book contains the malfuzat of Khwajah Sayyid Muhammad bin Yasuf al-Husaini Banda Nawaz Gisu
Daraz (AD 1321-1422), one of the leading disciples of Shykh Nasiru^d-Din Mahmud Chiragh-i-Dihli. He
settled down at Gulbarga, the capital of the Bahmani Empire in the Deccan, and became the mentor of
Sultan Ahmad Shah Bahmani (AD 1422-1436).

Shykh Jalalu^d-Din Tabrizi (AH 533-623)

Pandua (Bengal)

^ An anecdote relating to Shaikh Jalalu^d-Din^s stay in Deva Mahal reads like other stock-in-trade
stories and fairytales. It was related by such an authority as Gisu Daraz. According to him Shaikh
Jalalu^d-Din stayed at Pandua in the house of a flower vendor. On the day of his arrival, he found each of
the house members crying. On enquiry he was told there was a demon in the temple who daily ate a young
man. It was the king^s duty to provide the demon with his daily food. On that day it was the turn of the
young son in the family. The Shaikh requested them to send him in place of their son but they refused to
accept the offer for fear of the king. The Shaikh, then followed the young man to the temple and killed the
demon with a single blow from his staff. When the king accompanied by his retinue reached the temple to
worship the demon they were amazed to find the demon killed and an old man dressed in black with his
head covered with a blanket. The Shaikh invited them to see the fate with their god. The sight of their

vanquished idol prompted them to accept Islam. ^ —

(32)

Habibu^s-Siyar

The author, Ghiyasu^d-Din Muhammad bin Humamu^d-Din, is known as Khondmir. He was the son of

Mirkhond, the author of the famous Persian history, Rauzatu 4>s-Safa. Born at Herat in AD 1475 he
reached Agra in 1528-29 when he was introduced to Babur. He accompanied Babur in his expedition to
Bengal and Humayun in his expedition to Gujarat where he died in 1534-35. His Khulastu &I-Akhbar is a

history of Asia brought down to AD 1471. The Habibu &s-Siyar which he started writing in 1521 starts
with the birth of the Prophet and comes down to AD 1534-35.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Somnath ( Gujarat)

^He several times waged war against the infidels of Hindustan, and he brought under his subjection a
large portion of their country, until, having made himself master of Somnat, he destroyed all idol temples
of that country^ 1 -

4k ^Sultan Mahmud, having entered into the idol temple, beheld an excessively long and broad room, in so
much that fifty-six pillars had been made to support the roof. Somnat was an idol cut out of stone, whose
height was five yards, of which three yards were visible, and two yards were concealed in the ground.
Yaminu-d daula having broken that idol with his own hand, ordered that they should pack up pieces of the

stone, take them to Ghaznin, and throw them on the threshold of the lama^ Masjid^^ —

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

^►From that place the Sultan proceeded to a certain city, which was accounted holy by the people of the
country. In that city the men of Ghaznin saw so many strange and wonderful things, that to tell them or to
write a description of them is not easy ^ In short, the Sultan Mahmud having possessed himself of the
booty, burned their idol temples and proceeded towards Kanauj.^—

Kanauj (Uttar Pradesh)

❖ ❖The Ghaznivids found in these forts and their dependencies 10,000 idol temples, and they ascertained
the vicious belief of the Hindus to be, that since the erection of these buildings no less than three or four
hundred thousand years had elapsed. Sultan Mahmud during this expedition achieved many other conquests
after he left Kanauj, and sent to hell many of the infidels with blows of the well tempered sword. Such a
number of slaves were assembled in that great camp, that the price of a single one did not exceed

ten dirhams .❖

(33)

Babur-Nama

It is an autobiography written in the form of a diary by Zahiru^d-Dm Muhammad Babur, founder of the
Mughal dynasty in India, who proclaimed himself a Padshah after his victory in the First Battle of Panipat
(AD 1526), and a Ghazi (killer of kafirs ) after the defeat of RaNa Sanga in the Battle of Khanwa (AD
1528). While presenting himself as an indefatigable warrior and drug-addict he does not hide the cruelties
he committed on the defeated people, particularly his fondness for building towers of the heads of those he
captured as prisoners of war or killed in battle. He is very liberal in citing appropriate verses from

the Qur^an on the eve of his battle with RaNa Sanga. In order to ensure his victory, he makes a covenant
with Allah by breaking the vessels containing wine as also the cups for drinking it, swearing at the same
time that ❖he would break the idols of the idol-worshippers in a similar manner. ❖'— In the Path-
Nama (prayer for victory) composed for him by Shykh Zain, Allah is described as ❖destroyer of idols
from their foundations. ❖'== The language he uses for his Hindu adversaries is typically Islamic.

Zahiru^d-Din Muhammad Babur Padshah Ghazi (AD 1526-1530)

Chanderi (Madhya Pradesh)

❖in AH 934 (AD 1528), I attacked Chanderi and, by the grace of Allah, captured it in a few hours ❖ We
got the infidels slaughtered and the place which had been a darn &l-harb for years, was made into
a darn &l-Isla?n. ❖

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)

❖Next day, at the time of the noon prayer, we went out for seeing those places in Gwalior which we had
not yet seen^ Going out of the Hathipole Gate of the fort, we arrived at a place called Urwa^

❖ Solid rocks surround Urwa on three sides ❖ On these sides people have carved statues in stone. They are
in all sizes, small and big. A very big statue, which is on the southern side, is perhaps 20 yards high. These
statues are altogether naked and even their private parts are not covered ❖

❖ Urwa is not a bad place. It is an enclosed space. Its biggest blemish is its statues. I ordered that they
should be destroyed. ❖—

(34)

Siyaru^l-^Arifin

The author, Hamid bin Fazlullah is also known as Dervish Jamali Kamboh Dihlawi. He was a Sufi of the
Suhrawardiyya sect who died in AD 1536 while accompanying the Mughal Emperor Humayun in the

latter^s expedition to Gujarat. His son, Shykh Gadai was with the Mughal army in the Second Battle of

Panipat (AD 1556) and advised Akbar to kill the Hindu king, Himu, with his own hand. On Akbar^s

refusal, according to Badauni, Shykh Gadai helped Bairam Khan in doing the same deed .Siyaru ❖/-

&Arifin, completed between AD 1530 and 1536, is an account of the Chishti and Suhrawardi Sufis of the
period.

Shykh Jaldlu &d-Dtn Tabrizi (AH 533-623)

He was the second most outstanding disciple of Shykh Shihabu^d-Din Suhrawardi (AD 1145-1235),
founder of the Suhrawardiyya silsila of Sufism. Having lived in Multan, Delhi and Badaun, he finally
settled down in Lakhanauti, also known as Gaur, in Bengal.

Devatala (Bengal)

❖ Shaikh lalalu^d-Din had many disciples in Bengal. He first lived at Lakhnauti, constructed
a khanqah and attached a langar to it. He also bought some gardens and land to be attached to the
monastery. He moved to Devatalla (Deva Mahal) near Pandua in northern Bengal. There a kq/i>(either a
Hindu or a Buddhist) had erected a large temple and a well. The Shaikh demolished the temple and

constructed a takiya (khanqah) and converted a large number of kafirs ❖ Devatalla came to be known as

Tabrizabad and attracted a large number of pilgrims.^

Shykh ^Abu Bakr Tusi Haidari (Thirteenth Century AD)

He was a qalandar (anchorite) of the Haidari sect founded by a Turk named Haidar, who lived in Sawa in
Kuhistan. His disciples migrated into India when the Mongols sacked their homeland.

Delhi

4>The most prominent Indian Haidari was Shaikh Abu Bakr Tusi Haidari, who settled in Delhi in the mid¬
thirteenth century. There he demolished a temple on a site on the banks of the Jamna where he built
a khanqah and organized sama gathering. Shaikh Nizamu^d-Din Auliya^ was a frequent visitor of Abu
Bakr as was Shaikh Jamalu^d-Din of Hansi when he was in Delhi. The latter gave Shaikh Abu Bakr the
title Baz-i Safid (White Falcon) symbolizing his rare mystical achievements.^ 1

(35)

Tarikh-i-Shahi

The author, Ahmad Yadgar, was an old servant of the Sur sultans. He started writing this history on order
from Da^Kid Shah bin Sulaiman Shah. It is also known as Tarikh-i-Afdghana and Tartkh-i-Salatin-I-
Afdghana. It deals with the history of the Lodis down to AD 1554. He completed it in AH 1001-02 (AD
1592-93). He calls the Hindu kings ^rascally infidels^, ^black-faced foes^L ^evil-doers^, ^dark-

faced men^>, etc. He extols the plunder and depopulation of entire regions by Bahlul Lodi (AD 1451-
1489). He reports how Babur presented to his sons, Humayun and Kamran, two daughters of the Raja of
Chanderi.

Sultan Sikandar Lodi (AD 1489-1517)

Kurukshetra (Haryana)

^K)ne day he ordered that ^an expedition be sent to Thaneswar, (the tanks at) Kurkaksetra should be
filled up with earth, and the land measured and allotted to pious people for their maintenance,^ ^>He was
such a great partisan of Islam in die days of his youth^^T 1 "'

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

^Sultan Sikandar led a very pious life^ Islam was regarded very highly in his reign. The infidels could
not muster the courage to worship idols or bathe in the (sacred) streams. During his holy reign, idols were
hidden underground. The stone (idol) of Nagarkot, which had misled the (whole) world, was brought and

handed over to butchers so that they might weigh meat with it.^>—

Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (AD 1517-1526)

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)

❖it so happened that Raja Man, the ruler of Gwalior who had been warring with the Sultans for years,
went to hell. His son, Bikarmajit, became his successor. The Sultan captured the fort after a hard
fight. There was a quadruped, made of copper, at the door of the fort. It used to speak. It was brought from
there and placed in the fort at Agra. It remained there till the reign of Akbar Badshah. It was melted and a

cannon was made out of it at the order of the Badshah. ❖—

(36)

Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi

The author, Abbas Sarwani, was connected with the family of Sher Shah Sur by marriage. He wrote this
work by order of Akbar, the Mughal emperor, and named it Tuhfat-i-Akbar Shahi. But it became known
asTdrikh-i-Sher Shahi because of its main theme. He wrote it probably soon after AD 1579.

Sher Shah Sur (AD 1538-1545)

❖ ❖The nobles and chiefs said, ❖it seems expedient that the victorious standards should move towards

the DcIdling ❖Sher Shah replied: ❖ What you have said is most right and proper, but it has come into my
mind that since the time of Sultan Ibrahim, the infidel zaminddrs have rendered the country of Islam full of
unbelievers, and having thrown down masjids and buildings of the believers, placed idol-shrines in them,
and they are in possession of the country of Delhi and Malwa. Until I have cleansed the country from the

existing contamination of the unbelievers, I will not go into any other country^^^

(37)

W a q i ❖ ;~i t - i - M u s h t a q i

The author, Shykh Rizqu ❖ l lah Mushtaqi, was born in AD 1492 and died in 1581. He heard accounts of the
past from the learned men of his times and compiled them in a book. He was a great story-teller who
revelled in ❖marvels❖. He was known for his study of Sufi doctrines and spiritual exercises.

Sultan Sikandar Lodi (AD 1489-1517)

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

❖ Khawas Khan, who was the predecessor of Mian Bhua, having been ordered by the Sultan to march
towards Nagarkot, in order to bring the hill country under subjection, succeeded in conquering it, and
having sacked the infidels❖ temple of Debi Shankar, brought away the stone which they worshipped,
together with a copper umbrella, which was placed over it, and on which a date was engraved in Hindu
characters, representing it to be two thousand years old. When the stone was sent to the King, it was given
over to the butchers to make weights out of it for the purpose of weighing their meat. From the copper of
the umbrella, several pots were made, in which water might be warmed, and which were placed in

th emasjids and the King^s own palace, so that everyone might wash his hands, feet and face in them and
perform "131 his purifications before prayers -

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

^>He got the temples of the infidels destroyed. No trace of infidelity was left at the place in Mathura where
the infidels used to take bath. He got caravanserais constructed so that people could stay there, and also the
shops of various professionals such as the butchers, bawarchis, nanbais and sweetmeatsellers. If a Hindu
went there for bathing even by mistake, he was made to lose his limbs and punished severely. No Hindu

could get shaved at that place. No barber would go near a Hindu, whatever be the payment offered. ^ 1

Sultan Ghiyasu^d-Dm Khalji of Malwa (AD 1469-1500)

Jodhpur (Rajasthan)

^►Once upon a time a temple had been constructed in Jodhpur. The Sultan sent the Qazi of Mandu with
orders that he should get the temple demolished. He had said to him, ^Mf they do not demolish the temple
on instructions from you, you stay there and let me know. ^ When the Qazi arrived there, the infidels
refused to obey the order of the Sultan and said, ^>Has Ghiyasu^d-Din freed himself from lechery so that

he has turned his attention to this side? ^ The Qazi informed the king accordingly. He climbed on his
mount in Mandu and reached Jodhpur in a single night. He punished the infidels and laid waste the
templet

(38)

Tarikh-i-Alfi

It was composed in AD 1585 by Mulla Ahmad ThaTawi and Asaf Khan. It covers a period of one thousand
years from the death of the Prophet.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Somnath (Gujarat)

^Mahmud, as soon as his eyes fell on this idol, lifted up his battle-axe with much anger, and struck it with
such force that the idol broke into pieces. The fragments of it were ordered to be taken to Ghazntn, and
were cast down at the threshold of the Jami Masjid where they are lying to this day^^

(39)

Burhan-i-Ma ^ sir

The author, Sayyid ^ All bin ^Azizu^Hlah Tabataba Hasani, served Muhammad Qutb Shah (AD 1580-
1627) of Golconda at first and then Sultan Burhan Nizam Shah (AD 1591-1595) of Ahmadnagar. He wrote
this history in AD 1592. It deals with the Bahmani Sultans of Gulbarga (AD 1347-1422) and Bidar (AD
1422-1538) and the Nizam Shahi Sultans of Ahmadnagar upto AD 1596.

Sultan ^Alau^d-Din Hasan Bahman Shah (AD 1347-1358)

Dankuri (Karnataka)

^>The Sultan sent Khwaja-i-Jahan to Gulbarga, Sikandar Khan to Bidar, Qir Khan to Kutar, Safdar Khan to
Sakar which is called Sagar, and Husain Garshasp to Kotgir. He appointed other chiefs to invade the
kingdom of the infidels. ^►Aitmadul Mulk and Mubarak Khan led raids upon the river Tawi and laid waste
the Hindu Kingdom. After having invaded the province of Dankuri and cutting off the head of
Manat,— they attacked Janjwal^^

(40)

Tabqat-i-Akhari

The author, Khwajah Nizamu^d-Din Ahmad bin Muhammad Muqim al-Harbi, was a Bakshi in the reign
of Akbar, the Mughal emperor (AD 1556-1605). He wrote this history in AD 1592-93 and added to it, later
on, events upto 1593-94. He died next year. The history starts with the times of the Ghaznivid Sultans. The
work was initially known as Tabqat-i-Akbar Shahi but became known as simply Tabqat-i-Akbari. It is also
known as Tarikh-i-Nizami. It is the first Muslim history which confines itself to India and excludes matter
relating to other countries.

Amir Subuktigin (AD 977-997)

^ After this with kingly energy and determination, he girded up his loins for a war of religion, and invaded
Hindustan, and carried away many prisoners of war and other plunder; and in every country, which he
conquered, he founded mosques, and he endeavoured to ruin and desolate the territories of Raja Jaipal who,

at that time, was the ruler of Hindustan. 1

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Thanesar (Haryana)

^►The Sultan now received information that there was a city in Hindustan called Thanessar, and there was
a great temple there in which there was an idol called Jagarsom, whom the people of Hindustan
worshipped. He collected a large force with the object of carrying on a religious war, and in the year AH
402 marched towards Thanessar. The son of Jaipal having received intelligence of this, sent an envoy and
represented through him, that if the Sultan would relinquish this enterprise, he would send fifty elephants as
tribute. The Sultan paid no heed to this offer, and when he reached Thanessar he found the city empty. The
soldiers ravaged and plundered whatever they could lay hands upon, broke the idols and carried Jagarsom
to Ghaznin. The Sultan ordered that the idol should the placed in front of the place of prayer, so that people

would trample upon it. ^ 1

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

^From that place [Mahawan] the Sultan advanced to Mathurah, which is a large city containing many
temples^ and the Sultan completely destroyed the city and burnt the temples^ There was one golden idol
which was broken up under the orders of the Sultan —

Somnath (Gujarat)

^>Then in accordance with his custom, he advanced with his army towards Hindustan with the object of the
conquest of Somnath^ there were many golden idols in the temple in the city, and the largest of these idols
was called Manat^

❖ ❖When he reached Somnath, the inhabitants shut the gate on his face. After much fighting and great
struggles the fort was taken, and vast multitudes were killed and taken prisoners. The temples were pulled
down, and destroyed from their very foundations. The gold idol Somnath was broken into pieces, and one

piece was sent to Ghaznin, and was placed at the gate of the Jami^> Masjid; and for years it remained
there. ❖ -

Sultan ❖Abu-Sa^id Mas^ud of Ghazni (AD 1030-1042)

Sonipat (Haryana)

❖ ❖He marched with his army to the fort of Sonipat, and the commandant of that fort, Danial Har by
name, becoming aware of his approach, flcd^ the army of Islam, having captured that fort, pulled down all
the temples and obtained an enormous quantity of booty. ❖—

Ikhtiyaru^d-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji (AD 1202-1206)

Bengal

❖in short, Muhammad Bakhtiyar assumed the canopy, and had prayers read, and coin struck in his own
name and founded mosques and Khankahs and colleges, in place of the temples of the heathens.^ —

Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236)

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖in the year AH 631, he invaded the country of Malwah and conquered the fort of Bhilsa. He also took
the city of Ujjain, and had the temple of Mahakal ❖ completely demolished, destroying it from its
foundations; and he carried away the effigy of Bikramajit^ and certain other statues which were fashioned
in molten brass, and placed them in the ground in front of the I ami ❖ Masjid, so that they might he
trampled upon by the people.❖ —

Sultan Jalau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296)

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)

❖About the same time Malik Alau^d-Din, the nephew of the Sultan, begged that he might have
permission to march against Bhilsah and pillage those tracts. He received the necessary orders, and went
and ravaged the country and brought much booty for the Sultanas service. He also brought two brass idols
which had been the object of the worship of the Hindus of these parts; and cast them down in front of the
Badaun Gate to be trampled upon by the peopled ❖ —

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Dm Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Somnath (Gujarat)

❖in the third year after the accession, the Sultan sent Ulugh Khan and Nasrat Khan, with large armies to

invade Gujarat. They ravaged and plundered Nahrwalah, and all the cities of the province^ Ulugh Khan
and Nasrat Khan also brought the idol, which the Brahmans of Somnath had set up, and were worshipping,
in place of the one which Sultan Mahmud had broken to pieces, to Delhi, and placed it where the people

would trample upon

M&abar (Tamil Nadu)

❖Again in the year AH 716 Sultan Alauddin sent Malik Naib towards Dhor Samundar (Dvar Samudra)

and M^abar^ they then advanced with their troops to M^abar, and conquered it also, and having
demolished the temples there, and broken the golden and jewelled idols, sent the gold into the
treasury ❖❖—

Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-1388)

❖ Sultan Firuz Shah composed a book also in which he compiled an account of his reign and which he
named Fiituhdt-i-Firuz Shahid—

^He writes in its second chapter^ ^Muslim and infidel women used to visit sepulchres and temples,
which led to many evils. I stopped it. I got mosques built in place of temples^ ^

Sultan Sikandar Lodi (AD 1489-1517)

Mandrail (Madhya Pradesh)

^ After the rainy season was over, he marched in Ramzan AH 910 (AD February-March, 1505) for the
conquest of the fort of MunDrail. He stayed for a month near Dholpur and sent out armies with orders that
they should lay waste the environs of Gwalior and MunDrail. Thereafter he himself laid siege to the fort of
MunDrail. Those inside the fort surrendered the fort to him after signing a treaty. The Sultan got the

temples demolished and mosques erected in their stead 1

Udit Nagar (Madhya Pradesh)

^ After the rainy season was over, he led an expedition towards the fort of Udit Nagar in AH 912 (AD
1506-07)^—

Although those inside the fort tried their utmost to seek a pardon, but he did not listen to them, and the
fort was breached at many points and conquered^ The Sultan thanked Allah in die wake of his victory^
He got the temples demolished and mosques constructed in their stead^^ 1

Narwar (Madhya Pradesh)

^ After the rainy season was over, he made up his mind to take possession of the fort of Narwar which was
in the domain of Malwa. He ordered Jalal Khan Lodi, the governor of Kalpi, to go there and besiege the
fort^> The Sultan himself reached Narwar after some time^ He kept the fort under siege for an year^ The
soldiers went out to war everyday and got killed ^

^Thereafter the inhabitants of the fort were in plight due to scarcity of water and dearness of grains, and
they asked for forgiveness. They went out with their wealth and property. The Sultan laid waste the temples
and raised mosques. Men of learning and students were made to reside there and given scholarships and

grants. He stayed for six months under the walls of the fort. ■4>—

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

^He was a stout partisan of Islam and made great endeavours on this score. He got all temples of the
infidels demolished, and did not allow even a trace of them to remain. In Mathura, where the infidels used
to get together for bathing, he got constructed caravanserais, markets, mosques and madrasas, and
appointed there officers with instructions that they should allow no one to bathe; if any Hindu desired to get

his beard or head shaved in the city of Mathura, no barber was prepared to cut his hair. it

Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (AD 1517-1526)

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)

it kt the same time the Sultan thought that though ^Sultan Sikandar had led several expeditions for
conquering the fort of Gwalior and the country attached to it but met with no success.^ Consequently he
sent ^ Azam Humayun, the governor of Kara, with 300,000 horsemen and 300 elephants for the conquest

of Gwalior^ After some time the royal army laid a mine, filled it with gunpowder, and set fire to it. He
entered the fort and took possession of it after the wall of the fort was breached. He saw there a bull made
of brass, which the Hindus had worshipped for years. In keeping with a royal order, the bull was brought to
Delhi and placed at the Baghdad Gate. It was still there till the reign of Akbar. The writer of this history

saw it himself,

Sultan Mahmud bin Ibrahim Sharqi (AD 1440-1457)

Orissa

^ After some time he proceeded to Orissa with the intention of jihad. He attacked places in the
neighbourhood of that province and laid them waste, and destroyed the temples after demolishing
them^O^

Sultan Mahmud Khalji of Malwa (AD 1436-1469)

Chittaurgarh (Rajasthan)

^ After he had crossed the river Bhim, he started laying waste the country and capturing its people by
sending expeditions towards Chittor everyday. He started constructing mosques after demolishing temples.
He stayed 2-3 days at every halt. ^

Kumbhalgadh (Rajasthan)

^ When he halted near Kumbhalmir which was a very big fort of that province, and well-known for its
strength all over Hindustan, Deva the Vakil of the Governor of Kumbha took shelter in the fort and started
fighting. It so happened that a magnificent temple had been erected in front of that fort and surrounded by
ramparts on all sides. That temple had been filled with weapons of war and other stores. Sultan Mahmud
planned to storm the ramparts and captured it [the temple] in a week. A large number of Rajputs were made
prisoners and slaughtered. About the edifices of the temple, he ordered that they should be stocked with
wood and fired, and water and vinegar was sprinkled on the walls. That magnificent mansion which it had
taken many years to raise, was destroyed in a few moments. He got the idols broken and they were handed
over to the butchers for being used as weights while selling meat. The biggest idol which had the form of a
ram was reduced to powder which was put in betel-leaves to be given to the Rajputs so that they could eat

their god. ❖

Mandalgadh (Rajasthan)

❖He started for the conquest of ManDalgaDh on 26 Muharram, AH 861 (AD 24 December, 1456) after
making full preparation^ Reaching there the Sultan issued orders that ❖trees should be uprooted, houses

demolished and no trace should be left of human habitation ❖❖ A great victory was achieved on 1 Zilhijja,
AH 861 (AD 20 October, 1457). Sultan Mahmud offered thanks to Allah in all humility. Next day, he
entered the fort. He got the temples demolished and their materials used in the construction of a JamiS
Masjid. He appointed there a qazi, a mufti, a muhtasib, a khatib and a muSzzin and established order in
that place SS

Kelwara and Delwara (Rajasthan)

❖ Sultan Mahmud started again in AH 863 (AD 1458-59) for punishing the Rajputs. When he halted at

AhaD, Prince GhiyasuSd-Din and Fidan Khan were sent towards Kilwara and Dilwara in order to lay
waste those lands. They destroyed those lands and attacked the environs of Kumbhalmir.

❖When they came to the presence of the Sultan and praised the fort of Kumbhalmir, the Sultan started for
Kumbhalmir next day and went ahead destroying temples on the way. When he halted near that fort, he
mounted his horse and went up a hill which was to the east of the fort in order to survey the city. He said,

❖it is not possible to capture this fort without a siege lasting for several years ❖ ❖ ❖

Sultan Muzaffar Shah I of Gujarat (AD 1392-1410)

Idar (Gujarat)

❖in AH 796 (AD 1393-94), it was reported that Sultan Muhammad bin Firuz Shah had died at Delhi and
that the affairs of the kingdom were in disorder so that a majority of zamindars were in revolt, particularly
the Raja of Idar. Zafar Khan collected a large army and mountain-like elephants and proceeded to Idar in

order to punish the Raja^ The Raja of Idar had no time to prepare a defence and shut himself in the fort.
The armies of Zafar Khan occupied the Kingdom of Idar and started plundering and destroying it. They
levelled with the ground whatever temple they founds The Raja of Idar showed extreme humility and
pleaded for forgiveness through his representatives. Zafar Khan took a tribute according to his own desire
and made up his mind to attack Somnat^ 1 —

❖in AH 803 (AD 1399-1400) ❖Azam Humayun paid one yearns wages (in advance) to his army and
after making great preparations, he attacked the fort of Idar with a view to conquer it. After the armies of
the Sultan had besieged the fort from all sides and the battle continued non-stop for several days the Raja of
Idar evacuated the fort one night and ran away towards Bijanagar. In the morning Zafar Khan entered the
fort and, after expressing his gratefulness to Allah, and destroying the temples, he appointed officers in the

&«❖❖—

Somnath (Gujarat)

❖in AH 797 (AD 1394-95) ❖ he proceeded for the destruction of the temple of Somnat. On the way he
made Rajputs food for his sword and demolished whatever temple he saw at any place. When he arrived at
Somnat, he got the temple burnt and the idol of Somnat broken. He made a slaughter of the infidels and laid

waste the city. He got a Jami^ Masjid raised there and appointed officers of the Shari ❖(!❖❖

❖in AH 804 (AD 1401-02) reports were received by Zafar Khan that the infidels and Hindus of Somnat

had again started making efforts for promoting the ways of their religion. ❖Azam Humayun started for that
place and sent an army in advance. When the residents of Somnat learnt this, they advanced along the sea¬
shore and offered battle. ❖Azam Humayun reached that place speedily and he slaughtered that
group. Those who survived took shelter in the fort of the port at Dip (Diu). After some time, he conquered
that place as well, slaughtered that group also and got their leaders trampled under the feet of elephants. He

got the temples demolished and a la mi ❖ Masjid constructed. Having appointed a qazi, mufti and other
guardians of Shari❖h^ he returned to the capital at PaTan. ❖ —

Sultan Ahmad Shah I of Gujarat (AD 1411-1443)

Champaner (Gujarat)

❖ Sultan Ahmad^ encamped near Champaner on 7 Rabi-us-Sani, AH 822 (AD 3 May, 1419). He
destroyed temples wherever he found them and returned to A h madabad. ❖—

Mewar (Rajasthan)

❖in Rajab AH 836 (AD February-March, 1433) Sultan Ahmad mounted an expedition for the conquest of
MewaR and Nagaur. When he reached the town of Nagaur, he sent out armies for the destruction of towns
and villages and levelled with the ground whatever temple was found at whichever placed Having laid
waste the land of Kilwara, the Sultan entered the land of Dilwara, and he ruined the lofty palaces of RaNa
Mokal and destroyed the temples and idols ❖❖

Sultan Qutbu^d-Din Ahmad Shah II of Gujarat (AD 1451-1458)

Kumbhalgadh (Rajasthan)

❖ ❖Sultan Qutbu^d-Din felt insulted and he attacked the fort of Kumbhalmir in AH 860 (AD 1455-56)❖
When he reached near Sirohi, the Raja of that place offered battle but was defeated.

❖From that place the Sultan entered the kingdom of RaNa Kumbha and he sent armies in all directions for
invading the country and destroying the temples ❖ ❖—

Sultan Mahmud BegDha of Gujarat (AD 1458-1511)

Junagadh (Gujarat)

❖in AH 871 (AD 1466-67) he started for the conquest of Karnal [Girnar] which is now known as
JunagaDh. It is said that this country had been in the possession of the predecessors of Rai Mandalik for the
past two thousand years ❖ Sultan Mahmud relied on the help of Allah and proceeded there; on the way he

laid waste the land of Sora'I h^ From that place the Sultan went towards the temple of those people. Many
Rajputs who were known as Parwhan, decided to lay down their lives, and started fighting with swords and
spears in (defence) of the templet Sultan Mahmud postponed the conquest of the fort to the next year^
and returned to Ahmadabad.^ 1

Dwarka (Gujarat)

❖After some time the Sultan started contemplating the conquest of the port of Jagat which is a place of

worship for the BrahmaNas^ With this resolve he started for the port of Jagat on 16 Zil-Hajja, AH 877
(AD 14 July, 1473). He reached Jagat with great difficulty due to the narrowness of the road and the
presence of forests^ He destroyed the temple of Jagat^^—

Sultan Muzaffar Shah II of Gujarat (AD 1511-1526)

Idar (Gujarat)

❖ Sultan Muzaffar^ started for Idar. When he arrived in the town of Mahrasa, he sent armies for
destroying Idar. The Raja of Idar evacuated the fort and took refuge in the mountain of Bijanagar. The
Sultan, when he reached Idar, found there ten Rajputs ready to lay down their lives. He heaped barbarities

on them and killed them. He did not leave even a trace of palaces, temples, gardens and trees ❖❖

Sultan Sikandar Butshikan of Kashmir (AD 1389-1413)

Kashmir

❖ On account of his extensive charities, scholars from Iraq, Khorasan and Mawaraun-Nahar started
presenting themselves in his court and Islam was spread. He held in great regard Sayyid Muhammad who
was a very great scholar of the time, and strived to destroy the idols and temples of the infidels. He got
demolished the famous temple of Mahadeva at Bahrare. The temple was dug out from its foundations and

the hole (that remained) reached the water level. Another temple at Jagdar was also demolished^ Raja
Alamadat had got a big temple constructed at Sinpur. He had come to know from astrologers that after 11
hundred years a king by the name of Sikandar would get the temple destroyed and the idol of Utarid, which

was in it, broken. He got this [forecast] inscribed on a copper plate which was kept in a box and buried
under the temple. The inscription came up when the temple was destroyed [by Sikandar]^ 1 —

^^The value of currency had come down, because Sultan Sikandar had got idols of gold, silver and
copper broken and turned into coins ^ ^ —

Sultan Fath Shah of Kashmir (AD 1489-1499 and 1505-1516)

Kashmir

^Fath Shah ascended the throne in AH 894 (AD 1488-89)^ In those days Mir Shams, a disciple of Shah
Qasim Anwar, reached Kashmir and people became his devotees. All endowments, imlak, places of
worship and temples were entrusted to his disciples. His Sufis used to destroy temples and no one could

stop them^

Jalalu^d-Din Muhammad Akbar Padshah Ghazi (AD 1556-1605)

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

^On the 1st Rajab 990 [AD 1582] he (Husain Quit Khan) encamped by a field of maize near NagarkoT.
The fortress (hissar) of Bhim, which is an idol temple of Mahamai, and in which none but her servants
dwelt, was taken by the valour of the assailants at the first assault. A party of Rajputs, who had resolved to
die, fought most desperately till they were all cut down. A number of Brahmans who for many years had
served the temple, never gave one thought to flight, and were killed. Nearly 200 black cows belonging to
Hindus had, during the struggle, crowded together for shelter in the temple. Some savage Turks, while the
arrows and bullets were falling like rain, killed those cows. They then took off their boots and filled them

with the blood and cast it upon the roof and walls of the temple.^ 1

(41)

Muntakhabu ^ t-Tawarikh

The author, Mulla ^ Abdul Qadir Badauni son of Muluk Shah, was born at Badaun in AD 1540 or 1542.

He was a learned man who was introduced to the court of Akbar by Shykh Mubarak, father of Abu^M Fazl
and Faizi, two of the favourite courtiers of that king. He was employed by Akbar for translating Sanskrit
classics into Persian, a work which he hated. He was a pious Muslim who acquired great aversion for

Akbar due to the latter^s liberal policies via-a-vis the Hindus. His history, which is known as Tarikh-i-
Badauni also, is the general history of India from the time of the Ghaznivids to the fortieth year of
Akbar^s reign.

Sultan Muhmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Somnath (Gujarat)

❖ ❖❖Asjadi composed the following qaSida in honour of this expedition:

When the King of kings marched to Somnat,

He made his own deeds the standard of miracles ❖ 1

❖Once more he led his army against Somnat, which is a large city on the coast of the ocean, a place of
worship of the Brahmans who worship a large idol. There are many golden idols there. Although certain
historians have called this idol Manat, and say that it is the identical idol which Arab idolaters brought to
the coast of Hindustan in the time of the Lord of the Missive (may the blessings and peace of God be upon
him), this story has no foundation because the Brahmans of India firmly believe that this idol has been in

that place since the time of Kishan, that is to say four thousand years and a fraction ❖ The reason for this
mistake must surely be the resemblance in name, and nothing elsc^ The fort was taken and Mahmud
broke the idol in fragments and sent it to Ghaznin, where it was placed at the door of the .1 ama ❖ Masjid
and trodden under foot. ❖

Thanesar (Haryana)

❖in the year AH 402 (AD 1011) he set out for Thanesar and Jaipal, the son of the former Jaipal, offered
him a present of fifty elephants and much treasure. The Sultan, however, was not to be deterred from his
purpose; so he refused to accept his present, and seeing Thanesar empty he sacked it and destroyed its idol
temples, and took away to Ghaznin, the idol known as Chakarsum on account of which the Hindus had

been ruined; and having placed it in his court, caused it to be trampled under foot by the peopled ❖

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

❖ ❖From thence he went to Mathra which is a place of worship of the infidels and the birthplace of
Kishan, the son of Basudev, whom the Hindus Worship as a divinity - where there are idol temples without
number, and took it without any contest and razed it to the ground. Great wealth and booty fell into the

hands of the Muslims, among the rest they broke up by the orders of the Sultan, a golden idol ❖ ❖ —

Ikhtiyaru^d-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji (AD 1202-1206)

Navadvipa (Bengal)

❖ ❖in the second year after this arrangement Muhammad Bakhtyar brought an army from Behar towards
Lakhnauti and arrived at the town of Nudiya, with a small force; Nudiya is now in ruins. Rai Lakhmia
(Lakhminia) the governor of that town^ fled thence to Kamran, and property and booty beyond
computation fell into the hands of the Muslims, and Muhammad Bakhtyar having destroyed the places of
worship and idol temples of the infidels founded Mosques and Monasteries and schools and caused a
metropolis to be built called by his own name, which now has the name of Gaur.

There where was heard before

The clamour and uproar of the heathen.

Now there is heard resounding
The shout of ❖Allaho Akbar^.^ 1

Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210~1236)

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖And in the year AH 631 (AD 1233) having made an incursion in the direction of the province of
Malwah and taken Bhilsa and also captured the city of Ujjain, and having destroyed the idol-temple of
Ujjain which had been built six hundred years previously, and was called Mahakal, he levelled it to its

foundations, and threw down the image of Rai Vikrmajit from whom the Hindus reckon their era^ and
brought certain other images of cast molten brass and placed them on the ground in front of the door of the
mosque of old Dihli and ordered the people to trample them under foot ❖ ❖ 1

Sultan Jalalu^d-Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296)

Ranthambhor (Rajasthan)

❖ ❖and in the same year the Sultan for the second time marched against Ranthambhor, and destroyed the
country round it, and overthrew the idols and idol-temples, but returned without attempting to reduce the
&>!!:❖❖—

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Patan and Somnath (Gujarat)

❖And in the year AH 698 (AD 1298) he appointed Ulugh Khan to the command of a powerful army, to

proceed into the country of Gujarati Ulugh Khan carried off an idol from Nahrwala^ and took it to Dihli
where he caused it to be trampled under foot by the populace; then he pursued Rai Karan as far as Somnat,
and a second time laid waste the idol temple of Somnat, and building a mosque there retraced his

steps. ❖ -—

Sultan Sikandar Lodi (AD 1489-1517)

Mandrail (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖At the time of his return he restored the fort of Dholpur also to Binayik Deo, and having spent the
rainy season in Agra after the rising of the Canopus in the year AH 910 (AD 1504), marched to reduce the
fortress of Mandrayal, which lie took without fighting from the Rajah of Mandrayal, who sued for peace;

he also destroyed all the idol-temples and churches of the placed ❖

Udit Nagar (Madhya Pradesh)

❖And in the year AH 912 (AD 1506), after the rising of the Canopus, he marched against the fortress of
UntgaRh and laid siege to it, and many of his men joyfully embraced martyrdom, after that he took the fort
and gave the infidels as food to the sword ❖ He then cast down the idol-temples, and built there lofty
mosques. ❖ 1

Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (AD 1517-1526)

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖The fortress of Badalgarh, which lies below the fortress of Gwaliar, a very lofty structure, was taken
from Rai Man Singh and fell into the hands of the Muslims, and a brazen animal which was worshipped by
the Hindus also fell into their hands, and was sent by them to Agra, whence it was sent by Sultan Ibrahim to
Dihli, and was put over the city gate. The image was removed to Fathpur in the year AH 992 (AD 1584),
ten years before the composition of this history, where it was seen by the author of this work. It was

converted into gongs, and bells, and implements of all kinds. ❖'" !

Jalalu^d-Din Muhammad Akbar Padshah Ghazi (AD 1556-1605)

Siwalik (Uttar Pradesh)

❖in this year on the dismissal of Husain Khan the Emperor gave the pargana of Lak^hnou as jagir to
Mahdi Qasim Khan^ Husain Khan was exceedingly indignant with Mahdi Qasim Khan on account of
this^ After a time he left her in helplessness, and the daughter of Mahdi Qasim Beg at Khairabad with her

brothers, and set off from Lak^hnou with the intention of carrying on a religious war, and of breaking the
idols and destroying the idol-temples. He had heard that the bricks of these were of silver and gold, and
conceiving a desire for this and all the other abundant and unlimited treasures, of which he had heard a

lying report, he set out by way of Oudh to the Siwalik mountains

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

❖ ❖The temple of Nagarkot, which is outside the city, was taken at the very outset^ On this occasion
many mountaineers became food for the flashing sword. And that golden umbrella, which was erected on
the top of the cupola of the temple, they riddled with arrows ❖ And black cows, to the number of 200, to
which they pay boundless respect, and actually worship, and present to the temple, which they look upon as
an asylum, and let loose there, were killed by the Musulmans. And, while arrows and bullets were
continually falling like drops of rain, through their zeal and excessive hatred of idolatry they filled their

shoes full of blood and threw it on the doors and walls of the templet the army of Husain Quit Khan was
suffering great hardships. For these reasons he concluded a treaty with them^ and having put all things
straight he built the cupola of a lofty mosque over the gateway of Rajah Jai Chand.^ 1

Sultan Sulaiman Karrani of Bengal (AD 1563-1573)

Puri (Orissa)

^In this year also Sulaiman Kirrani, ruler of Bengal, who gave himself the tide of Hazrati A^la, and had
conquered die city of Katak-u-Banaras, that mine of heathenism, and having made the stronghold of
Jagannath into the home of Islam, held sway from Kamru to Orissa, attained the mercy of God^>^>

(42)

Shash Fath-i-Kangra

The author is unknown. It is supposed to have been written in the reign of Jahangir.

Nuru^d-Din Muhammad Jahangir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1605-1628)

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

^>The Emperor by the divine guidance, had always in view to extirpate all the rebels in his dominions, to
destroy all infidels root and branch, and to raze all Pagan temples level to the ground. Endowed with a
heavenly power, he devoted all his exertions to the promulgation of the Muhammadan religion; and
through the aid of the Almighty God, and by the strength of his sword, he used all his endeavours to

enlarge his dominions and promote the religion of Muhammad^ ! —

(43)

Tarikh-i-Da^udi

The author, ^Abdu^llah, says nothing about himself and does not give even his full name. As he
mentions the name of Jahangir, it can be assumed that he wrote it at some time after AD 1605. He starts
with the reign of Sultan Bahlul Lodi (AD 1451-1489) and ends with the reign of Da^Kid Shah who was
beheaded in AD 1575 by the order of Bairam Khan.

Sultan Sikandar Lodi (AD 1489-1517)

Kurukshetra (Haryana)

^It is also related of this prince, that before his accession, when a crowd of Hindus had assembled in
immense numbers at Kurkhet, he wished to go to Thanesar for the purpose of putting them all to
death^—

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

❖He was so zealous a Musalman that he utterly destroyed divers places of worship of the infidels, and left
not a vestige remaining of them. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathura, the mine of heathenism, and
turned other principal Hindu places of worship into caravansarais and colleges. Their stone images were
given to the butchers to serve them as meat-weight, and all the Hindus in Mathura were strictly prohibited

from shaving their heads and beards, and performing their ablutions ❖ ❖—

Dholpur (Madhya Pradesh)

❖in that year the Sultan sent Khawas Khan to take possession of the fort of Dhulpur. The Raja of that
place advanced to give battle, and daily fighting took place. The instant His Majesty heard of the firm
countenance shown by the rai of Dhulpur in opposing the royal army, he went there in person; but on his

arrival near Dhulpur, the rai made up his mind to fly without fighting^ He (Sikandar) offered up suitable
thanksgivings for his success, and the royal troops spoiled and plundered in all directions, rooting up all the
trees of the gardens which shaded Dhulpur to the distance of seven kos. Sultan Sikandar stayed there during

one month, erected a mosque on the site of an idol-temple, and then set off towards Agra^^'

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖Sultan Sikandar passed the rainy season of that year at Agra. After the rising of the star Canopus, he
assembled an army, and set forth to take possession of Gwalior and territories belonging to it. In a short
space of time he took most of the Gwalior district, and after building mosques in the places of idol-temples

returned towards Agra^^ —

Narwar (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ Sultan Sikandar, after the lapse of two years, in AH 913 (AD 1507) wrote a farman to Jalal Khan, the
governor of Kalpi, directing him to take possession of the fort of Narwar^ Jalal Khan Lodi, by the
Sultanas command, besieged Narwar, where Sultan Sikandar also joined him with great expedition. The

siege of the fort was protracted for one year^ Men were slain on both sides. After the time above
mentioned, the defenders of the place were compelled, by the want of water and scarcity of grain, to ask for
mercy, and they were allowed to go forth with their property; but the Sultan destroyed their idol-
temples, and erected mosques on their sites. He then appointed stipends and pensions for the learned and
the pious who dwelt at Narwar, and gave them dwellings there. He remained six months encamped below

the fort. ❖

Sher Shah Sur (AD 1538-1545)

Jodhpur (Rajasthan)

❖His attack on Maldev, Raja of Jodhpur, (was due) partly to his religious bigotry and a desire to convert
the temples of the Hindus into mosques. ❖

(44)

Zafaru^l-Walih Bi Muzaffar Wa Alihi

The author, ^Abdu^llah Muhammad bin ^>Umar al-Maqqi al-Asafi Ulugh-Khani, is popular as

Hajjitr4>d-Dabir. He arrived in India with his father in AD 1555. After 1573 he started living in
Ahmadabad where Akbar had put his father in charge of many endowments, die income from which was
sent to Mecca and Medina. After the death of his father he entered the service of another Amir, and finally
went to Khandesh in 1595. He finished his history in 1605 but took some more years to revise it. The
English translation we have is pretty bad.

Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutniish (AD 1210-1236)

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖in 631 (1233), Shamsuddin marched to Malwa and conquered the city of Bailsan and its fort and
demolished its famous temple. The historians have narrated that its citizens built the temple by digging its
foundation and raising its walls one hundred cubits from the ground in 300 years. All the images are fixed
with lead. The temple is called Gawajit (?) (Vikramajit) Sultan of Ujjain Nagari. The history of the temple
is a proof of what is said about its construction and demolition, that is, eleven hundred years. People of

Hind are ignorant of history. ❖

Sultan Jalalu^d-Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296)

Jhain (Rajasthan)

❖He marched from it to Ranthanbhor. He first encamped at Jhayan and conquered it. He demolished
temples and broke idols. He killed, captured and pillaged ❖❖

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)

❖He permitted ❖Alauddin for a religious war in Bhilastan. Jalaluddin had marched to Mandu.

❖Alauddin influenced his uncle by the booty of the religious war. It was immense. It contained a Nandi
idol carved in yellow metal and equal in weight to an animal. Jalaluddin ordered it to be placed at the
entrance to the Gate of Delhi famous as Badaun Gate. He was pleased with ❖Alauddin and put the
❖ D i wan - u I - ❖ A id ❖ under his charge and added Oudh to Kara^ ❖

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Devagiri (Maharashtra)

❖ ❖He routed Ramdev everywhere except the fort. The fort contained temples of gold and silver and
images of the same metals. Besides, there were jewels of different varieties. He ordered them to be

destroyed and collected its gold. Ruler of the fort was surprised at this action and his mind got confused. He
sent an envoy for conclusion of peace on condition of sparing the temples from destruction which was

agreed to^^

Somnath (Gujarat)

^ ^MaHmud demolished Somnath in the year 416 (1122)^> and carried its relics to Ghazni. After his
death, unbelief returned to Naharwala as its residents took an idol and buried it on a side. There was
publicity of return of Somnath. They took it out from its burial place. It was exhibited and fixed at a place
where it was. Malek Ulugh Khan took it along with all the spoils to Delhi. They made it the threshold at its

gate. This victory took place on Wednesday, 20th Jamadi I, 698 (1299)^>—

Olt was kept by a Brahmin after being mutilated by MaHamud. It was Lamnat. They named it Somnath.
They worshipped it out of misguidance from ancient times. They carried it to Delhi. It was placed at the
entrance of the gate^^—

Ma &bar (Tamil Nadu)

❖ ❖in 710 (1310) Kafur conquered the region of Ma^bar (Malabar) and Dahur Samand. Both these
regions belonged to Bir Rai. He marched further to Sarandip (Ceylon) and Kafur broke the famous idol of
Ram Ling Mahadev. It was wonderful that the swordsmen deserted the temple. The Brahmins assembled to
fight with him at the time of his breaking the idol till they collected all broken parts and got displeased with

swordsmen. Kafur marched further to Sira and demolished the temple of Jagannatlr^ —

❖ ❖Kafur always gained one victory after another until he dominated over Jagannath and consigned it to
fire. He returned from it on 5th Zilhajj of the year 710 (1310) and arrived at Delhi on 4th Jamadi II of the
year 711 (1311). It was a day worth witnessing. No one had undertaken such campaigns before him and
there would be none after him. A good omen was drawn from his arrival with that booty for his sultan and
for general Muslim public. They believed that all these victories were facilitated by the blessings of Quth-
uz-Zaman, Qiblat-ul-Asfiya Mawlana Shaikh Nizamuddin Awliya and Qutb-uz-Zaman, Madar ul-Jamkin
Mawalana Shaikh Nasiruddin and similarly the two Qutbs of people of the world and faith Mawlana Shaikh

Ruknuddin and Mawlana Shaikh ❖ Alauddin, may God benefit us through them. During their life time,
whatever they desired from their Lord, became the sunna (rule and regulation of the Prophet, may peace
and benediction of God be on him). Every member of the house of the ❖Alaiya Sultan was a disciple and
spiritual follower of Mawalana Shaikh Nizamuddin Awliya including the wazirs and amirs and persons of
rank. His blessings were upon them all^^>

Sultan Mahmud BegDha of Gujarat (AD 1485-1511)

Junagadh (Gujarat)

❖in AH 871 (AD 1466-67) the Sultan led an expedition to Karnal [Girnar]^ He spread the story that he
was out for hunting. Thereafter he suddenly attacked and his army also arrived. He took possession of those
treasuries which were beyond estimation. Many people living in those valleys lost their lives. They had a

famous idol there. When Mahmud decided to break it, many members of the Barawan clan gathered round
it. All of them were slaughtered and the idol was broken^ ❖

Dwarka (Gujarat)

❖in the same year of AH 877 (AD 1472-73) the Sultan made up his mind to destroy Jagat ❖ Jagat is a very
famous abode of infidelity and idolatry. Its idol is regarded as higher than all other idols in India and it is
because of this idol that the place is called Dwarka. It is a very big nest of BrahmaNas too. The idolaters
come here from far off places and the great hardships they undergo in order to reach here is regarded by

them as earnest worship^ There is a fort nearby known as Bait^=

❖ ❖The Sultan mounted (his horse) in the morning. The people of Jagat also got this information. They
shut themselves in the fort along with Rai Bhim. After a few days the Sultan entered Jagat and got its idols
broken. He got its canopies pulled down and established the way of Islam there. ❖

(45)

Zu hdatu ❖t-Tawarikh

The author, Shaykh Naru^l-Haqq al-Mashriqi al-Dihlivi al-Bukhari, was the son of ❖Abdul Haqq who
wrote Tarikh-i Haqqi in AD 1596-97. Nuru^l-Haqq^s history is an enlarged edition of his fathers

work. The history commences with the reign of Qutbu^d-Din Aibak and ends with the close of Akbar^s
reign in AD 1605.

Sultan Sikandar Lodi (AD 1489-1517)

❖in his time Hindu temples were razed to the ground, and neither name nor vestige of them was allowed
to re main ❖❖

Jalalu^d-Din Muhammad Akbar Padshah Ghazi (AD 1556-1605)

Mewar (Rajasthan)

❖When Mewar was invaded [AD 1600] many temples were demolished by the invading Mughal army [led
by Prince Salim].❖—

(46)

Tarikh-i-Firishta

The author, Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Firishta, was born in Astrabad on the Caspian Sea and came to
Bijapur in AD 1589. He lived under the patronage of Sultan Ibrahim ❖Adil Shah II of Bijapur where he
died in 1611. He claims to have consulted most of the earlier histories in writing his Gulshan-i-

Ibrahimi which became known as Tdrikh-i-Firishta. He completed it in 1609. It contains sections on the
independent sultanates of the Deccan, Gujarat, Malwa, Khandesh, Bengal, Multan, Sindh and Kashmir
besides narrating the history of the kings of Ghazni, Lahore, Delhi and Agra. This is the most widely read
Persian history at present.

Amir Subuktigin of Ghazni (AD 977-997)

NWFP and Punjab

❖liven during the fifteen years of Alptigin^s reign Subuktigin is represented by Firishta in an
untranslated passage to have made frequent attacks upon India, and even to have penetrated as far as Sodra
on the Chinab, where he demolished idols in celebration of Mahmud^s birth, which, as it occurred on the
date of the prophet^s birth, Subuktigin was anxious that it should be illustrated by an event similar to the
destruction of idols in the palace of the Persian king by an earthquake, on the day of the prophet^s
birth.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

❖The king, in his zeal to propagate the faith, now marched against the Hindoos of Nagrakote, breaking
down their idols and razing their temples. The fort, at that time denominated the Fort of Bheem, was
closely invested by the Mahomedans, who had first laid waste the country around it with fire and

sword. ❖—

Thanesar (Haryana)

❖in the year AH 402 (AD 1011), Mahmood resolved on the conquest of Tahnesur, in the kingdom of
Hindoostan. It had reached the ears of the king that Tahnesur was held in the same veneration by idolaters,
as Mecca by the faithful; that they had there set up a number of idols, the principal of which they called
Jugsom, pretending that it had existed ever since the creation. Mahmood having reached Punjab, required,
according to the subsisting treaty with Anundpal, that his army should not be molested on its march

through his country ❖ ❖—

❖The Rajahs brother, with two thousand horse was also sent to meet the army, and to deliver the

following message:- ❖My brother is the subject and tributary of the King, but he begs permission to
acquaint his Majesty, that Tahnesur is the principal place of worship of the inhabitants of the country: that
if it is required by the religion of Mahmood to subvert the religion of others, he has already acquitted
himself of that duty, in the destruction of the temple of Nagrakote. But if he should be pleased to alter his
resolution regarding Tahnesur, Anundpal promises that the amount of the revenues of that country shall be
annually paid to Mahmood; that a sum shall also be paid to reimburse him for the expense of his
expedition, besides which, on his own part he will present him with fifty elephants, and jewels to a

considerable amount. ❖ Mahmood replied, ❖The religion of the faithful inculcates the following tenet:
That in proportion as the tenets of the prophet are diffused, and his followers exert themselves in the
subversion of idolatry, so shall be their reward in heaven; that, therefore, it behoved him, with the

assistance of God, to root out the worship of idols from the face of all India. How then should he spare
Tahnesur?

^This answer was communicated to the Raja of Dehly, who, resolving to oppose the invaders, sent
messengers throughout Hindoostan to acquaint the other rajas that Mahmood, without provocation, was
marching with a vast army to destroy Tahnesur, now under his immediate protection. He observed, that if a
barrier was not expeditiously raised against this roaring torrent, the country of Hindoostan would be soon
overwhelmed, and that it behoved them to unite their forces at Tahnesur, to avert the impending calamity.

^►Mahmood having reached Tahnesur before the Hindoos had time to take measures for its defence, the
city was plundered, the idols broken, and the idol Jugsom was sent to Ghizny to be trodden under
foot^—

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

^Mahmood having refreshed his troops, and understanding that at some distance stood the rich city of
Mutra, consecrated to Krishn-Vasdew, whom the Hindoos venerate as an emanation of God, directed his
march thither and entering it with little opposition from the troops of the Raja of Delhy, to whom it
belonged, gave it up to plunder. He broke down or burned all the idols, and amassed a vast quantity of gold
and silver, of which the idols were mostly composed. He would have destroyed the temples also, but he
found the labour would have been excessive; while some say that he was averted from his purpose by their
admirable beauty. He certainly extravagantly extolled the magnificence of the buildings and city in a letter

to the governor of Ghizny, in which the following passage occurs: ^There are here a thousand edifices as
firm as the faith of the faithful; most of them of marble, besides innumerable temples; nor is it likely that
this city has attained its present condition but at the expense of many millions of deenars, nor could such

another be constructed under a period of two centuries. ^ '

^The King tarried in Mutra 20 days; in which time the city suffered greatly from fire, beside the damage it
sustained by being pillaged. At length he continued his march along the course of a stream on whose banks
were seven strong fortifications, all of which fell in succession: there were also discovered some very
ancient temples, which, according to the Hindoos, had existed for 4000 years. Having sacked these temples

and forts, the troops were led against the fort of Munj ■4>—

^>The King, on his return, ordered a magnificent mosque to be built of marble and granite, of such beauty
as struck every beholder with astonishment, and furnished it with rich carpets, and with candelabras and
other ornaments of silver and gold. This mosque was universally known by the name of the Celestial Bride.
In its neighbourhood the King founded an university, supplied with a vast collection of curious books in
various languages. It contained also a museum of natural curiosities. For the maintenance of this
establishment he appropriated a large sum of money, besides a sufficient fund for the maintenance of the

students, and proper persons to instruct youth in the arts and sciences

^The King, in the year AH 410 (AD 1019), caused an account of his exploits to be written and sent to the
Caliph, who ordered it to be read to the people of Bagdad, making a great festival upon the occasion,
expressive of his joy at the propagation of the faith.

East of the Jumna (Uttar Pradesh)

^In this year, that is AH 412, Sultan Mahmud learnt that the people of Hindustan had turned against the

Raja of Qanauj Nanda, the Raja of Kalinjar attacked Qanauj because Raja Kuwar (of Qanauj) had
surrendered to Sultan Mahmud. As a result of this attack Raja Kuwar was killed. When Sultan Mahmud
learnt it, he collected a large army^> and started towards Hindustan with a view to take revenge upon Raja
Nanda. As the army of Musalmans reached the Jumna, the son of Raja Anand Pal stood in the way of
Mahmud. The river of Jumna was in spate at this time^ and it became very difficult for the army to get
across^ But as chance would have it, eight royal guards of Mahmud showed courage and crossed the
river^ they attacked the army of the Hindus and dispersed it^> the son of Anand Pal ran away with his
chiefs. All the eight royal guards^ entered a city nearby and they plundered it to their hearths content.
They demolished the temples in that placed

Nardin (Punjab)

^ About this time the King learned that the inhabitants of two hilly tracts, denominated Kuriat and
Nardein, continued the worship of idols and had not embraced the faith of Islarn^ Mahmood resolved to

carry the war against these infidels, and accordingly marched towards their country^ The Ghiznevide
general. Ameer Ally, the son of Arslan Jazib, was now sent with a division of the army to reduce Nardein,
which he accomplished, pillaging the country, and carrying away many of the people captives. In Nardein
was a temple, which Ameer Ally destroyed, bringing from thence a stone on which were curious

inscriptions, and which according to the Hindoos, must have been 40,000 years old^>^—

Somnath (Gujarat)

^The celebrated temple of Somnat, situated in the province of Guzerat, near the island of Dew, was in

those times said to abound in riches, and was greatly frequented by devotees from all parts of H i ndoostan
Mahmood marched from Ghizny in the month of Shaban AH 415 (AD Sept. 1024), with his army,
accompanied by 30,000 of the youths of Toorkistan and the neighbouring countries, who followed him

without pay, for the purpose of attacking this templet—

^Some historians affirm that the idol was brought from Mecca, where it stood before the time of the
Prophet, but the Brahmins deny it, and say that it stood near the harbour of Dew since the time of Krishn,
who was concealed in that place about 4000 years ago^> Mahmood, taking the same precautions as before,
by rapid marches reached Somnat without opposition. Here he saw a fortification on a narrow peninsula,
washed on three sides by the sea, on the battlements of which appeared a vast host of people in arms^> In
the morning the Mahomedan troops advancing to the walls, began the assault^

^The battle raged with great fury: victory was long doubtful, till two Indian princes. Brahman Dew and
Dabishleem, with other reinforcements, joined their countrymen during the action, and inspired them with
fresh courage. Mahmood at this moment perceiving his troops to waver, leaped from his horse, and,

prostrating himself before God implored his assistance^ At the same time he cheered his troops with such
energy, that, ashamed to abandon their king, with whom they had so often fought and bled, they, with one
accord, gave a loud shout and rushed forwards. In this charge the Moslems broke through the enemy ^s

line, and laid 5,000— Hindus dead at their feet^ On approaching the temple, he saw a superb edifice built
of hewn stone. Its lofty roof was supported by fifty-six pillars curiously carved and set with precious
stones. In the centre of the hall was Somnat, a stone idol five yards in height, two of which were sunk in the
ground. The King, approaching the image, raised his mace and struck off its nose. He ordered two pieces of
the idol to be broken off and sent to Ghizny, that one might be thrown at the threshold of the public
mosque, and the other at the court door of his own palace. These identical fragments are to this day (now
600 years ago) to be seen at Ghizny. Two more fragments were reserved to be sent to Mecca and Medina. It
is a well authenticated fact, that when Mahmood was thus employed in destroying this idol, a crowd of
Brahmins petitioned his attendants and offered a quantity of gold if the King would desist from further
mutilation. His officers endeavoured to persuade him to accept of the money; for they said that breaking
one idol would not do away with idolatry altogether; that, therefore, it could serve no purpose to destroy the
image entirely; but that such a sum of money given in charity among true believers would be a meritorious
act. The King acknowledged that there might be reason in what they said, but replied, that if he should

consent to such a measure, his name would be handed down to posterity as ^Mahmood the idol-seller^,
whereas he was desirous of being known as ^Mahmood the destroyer^: he therefore directed the troops
to proceed in their work^—

^The Caliph of Bagdad, being informed of the expedition of the King of Ghizny, wrote him a
congratulatory letter, in which he styled him ^The Guardian of the State, and of the Faith to his son,
the Prince Ameer Musaood, he gave the title of ^The Lustre of Empire, and the Ornament of Religion ^;
and to his second son, the Ameer Yoosoof, the appellation of ^>The Strength of the Arm of Fortune, and
Establisher of Empires.^ He at the same time assured Mahmood, that to whomsoever he should bequeath
the throne at his death, he himself would confirm and support the same. ^ 122

Sultan Mas^ud I of Ghazni (1030-1042)

Sonipat (Haryana)

^In the year AH 427 (AD 1036)^> he himself marched with an army to India, to reduce the fort of

Hansy^ Herein he found immense treasure, and having put the fort under the charge of a trusty officer, he
marched towards the fort of Sonput. Depal Hurry, the governor of Sonput, abandoned the place, and fled
into the woods; but having no time to carry off his treasure, it fell into the conqueror^s hands. Musaood
having ordered all the temples to be razed to the ground, and the idols to be broken proceeded in pursuit of
Depal Hurry

Sultan Mas^ud III of Ghazni (AD 1099-1151)

Uttar Pradesh

❖in his reign Hajib Toghantugeen, an officer of his government, proceeded in command of an army
towards Hindoostan, and being appointed governor of Lahore, crossed the Ganges, and carried his
conquests farther than any Mussulman had hitherto done, except the Emperor Mahmood. Like him he
plundered many rich cities and temples of their wealth, and returned in triumph to Lahore, which now
became in some measure the capital of the empire, for the Suljooks having deprived the house of Ghizny of

most of its territory both in Eeran and Tooran, the royal family went to reside in India. ❖—

Sultan Muhammad Ghuri (AD 1175-1216)

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)

❖Mahomed Ghoory, in the mean time returning from Ghizny, marched towards Kunowj, and engaged Jye-

chund Ray, the Prince of Kunowj and Benares ❖ This prince led his forces into the field, between
Chundwar and Etawa, where he sustained a signal defeat from the vanguard of the Ghiznevide army, led by
Kootbood-Deen Eibuk, and lost the whole of his baggage and elephants ❖ He marched from thence to
Benares, where, having broken the idols in above 1000 temples, he purified and consecrated the latter to the
worship of the true God ❖❖

Bihar

❖Mahomed Ghoory, following with the body of the army into the city of Benares, took possession of the
country as far as the boundaries of Bengal, without opposition, and having destroyed all the idols, loaded
four thousand camels with spoils. ❖

Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236)

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh)

❖After the reduction of Gualiar, the King marched his army towards Malwa, reduced the fort of Bhilsa,
and took the city of Oojein, where he destroyed a magnificent temple dedicated to Mahakaly, formed upon
the same plan with that of Somnat. This temple is said to have occupied three hundred years in building,
and was surrounded by a wall one hundred cubits in height. The image of Vikramaditya, who had been
formerly prince of this country, and so renowned, that the Hindoos have taken an era from his death, as also
the image of Mahakaly, both of stone, with many other figures of brass, were found in the temple. These

images the King caused to be conveyed to Dehly, and broken at the door of the great mosque. ❖

Sultan Jalalu^d-Din Khalji (AD 1290-1296)

Malwa (Madhya Pradesh)

❖The King, after the decease of his son, marched his army towards Runtunbhore, to quell an insurrection
in those parts, leaving his son Arkully Khan in Dehly, to manage affairs in his absence. The enemy retired
into the fort of Runtunbhore, and the King reconnoitred the place, but, despairing of reducing it, marched

towards Oojein, which he sacked. At the same time also, he broke down many of the temples of Malwa,
and after plundering them of much wealth, returned to Runtunbhore.^

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)

❖in the year AH 692 (AD 1293), the King marched against the Hindoos in the neighbourhood of Mando,
and having devastated the country in that vicinity, returned to Dehly. In the mean time, Mullik Allood-
Deen, the King^s nephew, governor of Kurra, requested permission to attack the Hindoos of Bhilsa, who
infested his province. Having obtained leave, he marched in the same year to that place, which he subdued;
and having pillaged the country, returned with much spoil, part of which was sent to the King. Among
other things, there were two brazen idols which were thrown down before the Budaoon gate of Dehly, to be
trodden under foot.

❖julal-ood-Deen Feroze was much pleased with the success and conduct of his nephew on this expedition,
for which he rewarded him with princely presents, and annexed the province of Oude to his former
government of Kurra. ❖—

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din KhaljT (AD 1296-1316)

Gujarat

❖in the beginning of AH 697 ❖Alau^d-Din sent Almas Beg and Nasrat Khan along with other chiefs of

Dehli and the army of Sindh, for the conquest of Gujarati Gujarat had a very famous idol which was not
only of the same name as Somnat but was also equally prestigious. The Musalmans got hold of this idol
and had it sent to Dehli so that it could be trampled upon^ ❖ -

Dwarasamudra (Karnataka)

In the year AH 710 (AD 1310), the King again sent Mullik Kafoor and Khwaja Hajy with a great army, to
reduce Dwara Sumoodra and Maabir in the Deccan, where he heard there were temples very rich in gold

and jewels ❖ They found in the temple prodigious spoils, such as idols of gold, adorned with precious
stones, and other rich effects, consecrated to Hindoo worship. On the sea-coast the conqueror built a small
mosque, and ordered prayers to be read according to the Mahomedan faith, and the Khootba to be
pronounced in the name of Allaood-Deen Khiljy. This mosque remains entire in our days at Sett Bund

Rameswur, for the infidels, esteeming it a house consecrated to God, would not destroy it. ❖ 1

Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (AD 1351-1388)

Nagarkot Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

❖From thence the King marched towards the mountains of Nagrakote, where he was overtaken by a storm
of hail and snow. The Raja of Nagrakote, after sustaining some loss, submitted, but was restored to his
dominions. The name of Nagrakote was, on this occasion, changed to that of Mahomedabad, in honour of

the late king^> Some historians state, that Feroze, on this occasion, broke the idols of Nagrakote, and

mixing the fragments with pieces of cow^s flesh, filled bags with them, and caused them to be tied round
the necks of Bramins, who were then paraded through the camp. It is said, also, that he sent the image of
Nowshaba to Mecca, to be thrown on the road, that it might be trodden under foot by the pilgrims, and that
he also remitted the sum of 100,000 tunkas, to be distributed among the devotees and servants of the

temple.

Sultan Sikandar Lodi (AD 1489-1517)

Mcindrail (Madhya Pradesh)

^►Sikundur Lody, having returned to Dholpoor, reinstated the Raja Vinaik Dew, and then marching to
Agra, he resolved to make that city his capital. He stayed in Agra during the rains, but in the year AH 910
(AD 1504), marched towards Mundril. Having taken that place, he destroyed the Hindoo temples, and

caused mosques to be built in their stead.

Udit Nagar (Madhya Pradesh)

^►Having returned to Agra, the King proceeded in the year AH 912 (AD 1506) towards the fort of
Hunwuntgur, despairing of reducing Gualiar. Hunwuntgur fell in a short time, and the Rajpoot garrison
was put to the sword, the temples were destroyed, and mosques ordered to be built in their stead

Narwar (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖in the following year (AH 913, AD 1506), the king marched against Nurwur, a strong fort in the
district of Malwa, then in possession of the Hindoos. The Prince Julal Khan governor of Kalpy, was
directed to advance and invest the place; and should the Hindoos resist, he was required to inform the

King^ The King remained for the space of six months at Nurwur, breaking down temples, and building
mosques. He also established a college there, and placed therein many holy and learned men. ❖

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

❖ ❖He was firmly attached to the Mahomedan religion, and made a point of destroying all Hindoo
temples. In the city of Mutra he caused musjids and bazars to be built opposite the bathing-stairs leading to
the river and ordered that no Hindoos should be allowed to bathe there. He forbade the barbers to shave the
beards and beads of the inhabitants, in order to prevent the Hindoos following their usual practices at such

pilgrimages^^ '

Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (AD 1517-1526)

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)

^►■^The Dehly army, arriving before Gualiar, invested the placed After the siege had been carried on for
some months, the army of Ibrahim Lody at length got possession of an outwork at the foot of the hill, on
which stood the fort of Badilgur. They found in that place a brazen bull, which had been for a long time an
object of worship, and sent it to Agra, from whence it was afterwards conveyed to Dehly, and thrown down

before the Bagdad gate (AH 924, AD 1518).^—

Sultan Alau^d-Din Mujahid Shah Bahmam (AD 1375-1378)

Vijayanagar (Karnataka)

^Mujahid Shah, on this occasion, repaired mosques which had been built by the officers of Alla-ood-Deen
Khiljy. He broke down many temples of the idolaters, and laid waste the country; after which he hastened
to Beejanuggur^ The King drove them before him, and gained the bank of a piece of water, which alone
divided him from the citadel, where in the Ray resided. Near this spot was an eminence, on which stood a
temple, covered with plates of gold and silver, set with jewels: it was much venerated by the Hindoos, and
called, in the language of the country, Puttuk. The King, considering its destruction a religious obligation
ascended the hill, and having razed the edifice, became possessed of the precious metals and jewels

therein.^

Sultan Ahmad Shah I Wall Bahmam (AD 1422-1435)

Vijayanagar (Karnataka)

^ Ahmud Shah, without waiting to besiege the Hindoo capital, overran the open country; and wherever he
went put to death men, women, and children, without mercy, contrary to the compact made between his
uncle and predecessor, Mahomed Shah, and the Rays of Beejanuggur. Whenever the number of slain
amounted to twenty thousand, he halted three days, and made a festival celebration of the bloody event. He
broke down, also, the idolatrous temples, and destroyed the colleges of the bramins. During these
operations, a body of five thousand Hindoos, urged by desperation at the destruction of their religious
buildings, and at the insults offered to their deities, united in taking an oath to sacrifice their lives in an

attempt to kill the King, as the author of all their sufferings'^^ —

Kullum ( Maharashtra)

^>In the year AH 829 (AD 1425), Ahmud Shah marched to reduce a rebellious zemindar of Mahoor^
During this campaign, the King obtained possession of a diamond mine at Kullum, a place dependent on
Gondwana, in which territory he razed many idolatrous temples, and erecting mosques on their sites,
appropriated to each some tracts of land to maintain holy men, and to supply lamps and oil for religious

purposes

Sultan ^Alau^d-Din Ahmad Shah II Bahmam (AD 1436-1458)

❖ ❖He was averse from shedding human blood, though he destroyed many idolatrous temples, and erected
mosques in their stead. He held conversation neither with Nazarenes nor with bramins; nor would he permit
them to hold civil offices under his government. ❖ —

Sultan Muhammad Shah II Bahmam (AD 1463-1482)

Kondapalli (Andhra Pradesh)

❖Mahomed Shah now sat down before Condapilly and Bhim Raj, after six months, being much distressed,
sued for pardon; which being granted, at the intercession of some of the nobility, he surrendered the fort
and town to the royal troops. The King having gone to view the fort, broke down an idolatrous temple, and
killed some bramins, who officiated at it, with his own hands, as a point of religion. He then gave orders for
a mosque to be erected on the foundation of the temple, and ascending a pulpit, repeated a few prayers,
distributed alms, and commanded the Khootba to be read in his name. Khwaja Mahmood Gawan now
represented, that as his Majesty had slain some infidels with his own hands, he might fairly assume the title
of Ghazy, an appellation of which he was very proud. Mahmood Shah was the first of his race who had

slain a bramin^ ❖—

Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu)

❖ ❖On his arrival at Condapilly, he was informed by the country people, that at the distance of ten days^
journey was the temple of Kunchy the walls and roof of which were covered with plates of gold, and
ornamented with precious stones; but that no Mahomedan monarch had as yet seen it, or even heard of its
name. Mahomed Shah, accordingly, selected six thousand of his best cavalry, and leaving the rest of his

army at Condapilly, proceeded by forced marches to Kunchy^ Swarms of people, like bees, now issued

from within, and ranged themselves under the walls to defend it. At length, the rest of the King^s force
coming up, the temple was attacked and carried by storm, with great slaughter. An immense booty fell to
the share of the victors, who took away nothing but gold, jewels, and silver, which were abundant^ ❖ —

Sultan ❖Ali ❖Adil Shah I of Bijapur (AD 1557-1579)

Bankapur (Karnataka)

❖ ❖Ally Adil Shah, at the persuasions of his minister, carried his arms against Bunkapoor. This place was
the principal residence of Velapa Ray, who had been originally a principal attendant of Ramraj; after whose
death he assumed independence^ -

❖ ❖ Velapa Ray, despairing of relief, at length sent offers for surrendering the fort to the King, on
condition of being allowed to march away with his family and effects, which Ally Adil Shah thought
proper to grant, and the place was evacuated accordingly. The King ordered a superb temple within it to be
destroyed, and he himself laid the first stone of a mosque, which was built on the foundation, offering up
prayers for his victory. Moostufa Khan acquired great credit for his conduct, and was honoured with a royal

dress, and had many towns and districts of the conquered country conferred upon him in jageer^~—

Sultan Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda (AD 1507-1543)

Dewarconda (Andhra Pradesh)

^ After his return the King proceeded to reduce the fortress of Dewurconda, strongly situated on the top of
a hill, which after a long siege was taken, and the Hindoo palaces and temples, by the King^s orders were
consumed to ashes, and mosques built in their stead.

Sultan Ibrahim Qutb Shah of Golconda (AD 1550-1580)

Adoni (Karnataka)

^ When the late king, Ibrahim Kootb Shah, had settled the countries of the Hindoos on his southern
frontier, and despatched his commander. Ameer Shah Meer, to oppose the armies of his Mahomedan
neighbours, he vested the management of the affairs of his government in the hands of one Moorhary Row,
a Marratta bramin, to whom was attached a body of ten thousand infantry, under the command of
Mahomedan officers of rank, with permission to beat the nobut. Moorhary Row was in every respect the
second person in the state, not even excepting the princes of the blood-royal. In the latter end of the late

king^s reign, this unprincipled infidel proceeded with a force towards a famous temple near Adony, where
he attacked the inhabitants, laid waste the country, and sacked it of its idols, made of gold and silver, and
studded with rubies. He levied also four lacks of hoons (160,0001.) from the inhabitants. At sight of the
idols the King was taken seriously ill, and never recovered. He died on Thursday the 21st of Rubbeeoos-

Sany, AH 988 (AD June 2, 1580) AD^—

Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda (AD 1580-1612)

Cuddapah (Andhra Pradesh)

^The sudden swelling of the rivers, and the absence of the King with his army, gave Venkutputty leisure
to muster the whole of his forces, which amounted to one hundred thousand men. The leaders were
Yeltumraj, Goolrung Setty, and Munoopraj, who marched to recover Gundicota from the hands of Sunjur
Khan. Here the enemy were daily opposed by sallies from the garrison, but they perservered in the siege;
when they heard that Moortuza Khan, with the main army of the Mahomedans, had pentrated as far as the
city of Krupa, the most famous city of that country, wherein was a large temple. This edifice the

Mahomedans destroyed as far as practicable, broke the idol, and sacked the city^^k

Kalahasti (Tamil Nadu)

^>The King determined to spare neither men nor money to carry on the war against the Hindoos: he
accordingly directed Etibar Khan Yezdy, the Hawaldar of Condbeer (henceforth called Moortuza Nuggur),
to collect all the troops under his command, with orders to march towards Beejanuggur, and to lay in ashes

all the enemy^s towns in his routed Etibar Khan now proceeded to the town of Calistry, which he

reached after a month ^>s march from Golconda. Here he destroyed the Hindoo idols, and ordered prayers
to be read in the temples. These edifices may well he compared in magnificence with the buildings and
paintings of China, with which they vie in beauty and workmanship. Having given a signal example of the

Mahomedan power in that distant country, the Hindoos did not dare to interrupt his return ^

Sultan Muzaffar Shah I of Gujarat (AD 1392-1410)

Somnath (Gujarat)

4>^On the return of Moozuffur Khan to Guzerat, he learnt that in the western Puttun district the Ray of
Jehrend, an idolater, refused allegiance to the Mahomedan authority. To this place Moozuffur Khan
accordingly marched, and exacted tribute. He then proceeded to Somnat, where having destroyed all the
Hindoo temples which he found standing, he built mosques in their stead; and leaving learned men for the
propagation of the faith, and his own officers to govern the country, returned to Puttun in the year AH 798

(AD 1395).^—

Jhalawar (Rajasthan)

^^From Mundulgur Moozuffur Khan marched to Ajmeer, to pay his devotions at the shrine of Khwaja
Moyin-ood-Deen Hussun Sunjury, from the whence he went towards Guzerat. On reaching Julwara, he
destroyed the temples; and after exacting heavy contributions, and establishing his authority, he returned to

Puttun^^—

Din (Gujarat)

❖ ❖in the following year AH 804 (AD 1402), he marched to Somnat, and after a bloody action, in which
the Mahomedans were victorious, the Ray fled to Diu. Moozuffur Shah having arrived before Diu laid
siege to it, but it opened its gates without offering resistance. The garrison was, however, nearly all cut to
pieces, while the Ray, with the rest of the members of his court, were trod to death by elephants. One large
temple in the town was razed to the ground, and a mosque built on its site; after which, leaving his own

troops in the place, Moozuffur Shah returned to Puttun. ❖—

Sultan Ahmad Shah I of Gujrat (AD 1411-1443)

Sompur (Gujrat)

❖Ahmud Shah having a great curiosity to see the hill-fort of Girnal pursued the rebel in that direction^
After a short time, the Raja, having consented to pay an annual tribute, made a large offering on the spot.
Ahmud Shah left officers to collect the stipulated amount, and returned to Ahmadabad; on the road to
which place he destroyed the temple of Somapoor, wherein were found many valuable jewels, and other

property. ❖

General order

❖in the year AH 817 (AD 1414), Mullik Tohfa, one of the Officers of the King^s government was
ennobled by the title of Taj-ool-Moolk, and received a special commission to destroy all idolatrous temples,

and establish the Mahomedan authority throughout Guzerat; a duty which he executed with such diligence,
that the names of Mawass and Girass were hereafter unheard of in the whole kingdom. ❖—

On way to Nagaur (Rajasthan)

❖in the year AH 819 (AD 1416), Ahmud Shah marched against Nagoor, on the road to which place he
plundered the country, and destroyed the temples ❖ ❖—

Idar (Gujarat)

❖ ❖in the year 832 he marched again to Idur; and on the sixth of Suffur, AH 832 (AD Nov. 14, 1428)
carried by storm one of the principal forts in that province, wherein he built a magnificent mosque ❖ ❖

Sultan Mahmud BegDha of Gujarat (AD 1458-1511)

Giniar (Gujarat)

❖The author of the history of Mahmood Shah relates, that in the year AH 872 (AD 1468), the King saw
the holy Prophet (Mahomed) in a dream, who presented before him a magnificent banquet of the most
delicate viands. This dream was interpreted by the wise men as a sign that he would soon accomplish a
conquest by which he would obtain great treasures, which prediction was soon after verified in the capture
of Girnal.

❖in the year AH 873 (AD 1469), Mahmood Shah marched towards the country of Girnal, the capital of
which bears the same name^—

❖ ❖The victorious army, without attacking the fort of Girnal, destroyed all the temples in the vicinity; and
the King sending out foraging parties procured abundance of provisions for the camp^

❖The King, being desirous that the tenets of Islam should be propagated throughout the country of Girnal,
caused a city to be built, which he called Moostufabad, for the purpose of establishing an honourable
residence for the venerable personages of the Mahomedan religion, deputed to disseminate its principles;

Mahmood Shah also took up his residence in that c ity ❖ ❖-

Dwarka (Gujarat)

❖Mahmood Shall ❖s next effort was against the port of Jugut, with a view of making converts of the
infidels, an object from which he had been hitherto deterred by the reports he received of the approaches to

^>The King, after an arduous march, at length arrived before the fort of Jugut a place filled with infidels,

misled by the infernal minded bramins^ The army was employed in destroying the temple at Jugut, and in
building a mosque in its stead; while measures, which occupied three or four months in completing, were in
progress for equipping a fleet to attack the island of Bete^ ^

Sultan Muzaffar Shah II of Gujarat (AD 1511-1526)

Idar (Gujarat)

^The King, hearing of this disaster, instantly marched towards Idur. On reaching Mahrasa he caused the
whole of the Idur district to be laid waste. Bheem Ray took refuge in the Beesulnuggur mountains; but the
garrison of Idur, consisting of only ten Rajpoots, defended it against the whole of the King^s army with
obstinacy; they were, however, eventually put to death on the capture of the place; and the temples, palaces,
and garden houses, were levelled with the dust^^—

Sultan Mahmud KhaljT of Malwa (AD 1435-1469)

Kumbhalgadh (Rajasthan)

& ^Sooltan Mahmood now attacked one of the forts in the Koombulmere district, defended by Beny Ray,
the deputy of Rana Koombho of Chittor. In front of the gateway was a large temple which commanded the
lower works. This building was strongly fortified, and employed by the enemy as a magazine. Sooltan
Mahmood, aware of its importance, determined to take possession of it at all hazards; and having stormed it
in person, carried it, but not without heavy loss; after which, the fort fell into his hands, and many Rajpoots
were put to death. The temple was now filled with wood, and being set on fire, cold water was thrown on
the, stone images, which causing them to break, the pieces were given to the butchers of the camp, in
order to be used as weights in selling meat. One large figure in particular, representing a ram, and formed
of solid marble, being consumed, the Rajpoots were compelled to eat the calcined parts with pan, in order

that it might be said that they were made to eat their gods^^ —

Mandalgadh (Rajasthan)

^On the 26th of Mohurrum, in the year AH 861 (AD Dec. 23, 1465), the King again proceeded to
Mundulgur; and after a vigorous siege occupied the lower fort, wherein many Rajpoots were put to the
sword, but the hill-fort still held out; to reduce which might have been a work of time but the reservoirs of
water failing in consequence of the firing of the cannon, the garrison was obliged to capitulate, and Rana
Koombho stipulated to pay ten lacks of tunkas. This event happened on the 20th of Zeehuj of the same year

AH 861 (AD Nov. 8, 1457), exactly eleven months after the King^s leaving Mando. On the following day
the King caused all the temples to be destroyed, and musjids to be erected in their stead, appointing the
necessary officers of religion to perform daily worship —

On Way to Kumbhalgadh (Rajasthan)

^►Sooltan Mahmood, in the year AH 863 (AD 1485), again marched against the Rajpoots. On arriving at
the town of Dhar, he detached Gheias-ood-Deen to lay waste the country of the Kolies and Bheels. In this
excursion the Prince penetrated to the hills of Koombulmere, and on his return, having given the King some
description of that fortress, Sooltan Mahmood resolved to march thither. On the next day he moved for that

purpose, destroying all the temples on the road^>^

Sultan Mahmud Shah bin Ibrahim Sharqi of Jaunpur (AD 1440-1457)

Orissa

^Mahmood Shah Shurky, having recruited his army, took the field again for the purpose of reducing
some refractory zemindars in the district of Chunar, which place he sacked, and from thence proceeded into
the province of Orissa, which he also reduced; and having destroyed the temples and collected large sums

of money, returned to Joonpoor.^—

Muhammad bin Qasim (AD 712-715)

Debal (Sindh)

4>On the receipt of this letter, Hijaj obtained the consent of Wuleed, the son of Abdool Mullik, to invade
India, for the purpose of propagating the faith and at the same time deputed a chief of the name of
Budmeen, with three hundred cavalry, to join Haroon in Mikran, who was directed to reinforce the party
with one thousand good soldiers more to attack Deebul. Budmeen failed in his expedition, and lost his life
in the first action. Hijaj, not deterred by this defeat, resolved to follow up the enterprise by another. In
consequence, in the year AH 93 (AD 711) he deputed his cousin and son-in-law, Imad-ood-Deen Mahomed
Kasim, the son of Akil Shukhfy, then only seventeen years of age, with six thousand soldiers, chiefly

Assyrians, with the necessary implements for taking forts, to attack Deebul^

^K)n reaching this place, he made preparations to besiege it, but the approach was covered by a fortified
temple, surrounded by strong wall, built of hewn stone and mortar, one hundred and twenty feet in height.
After some time a bramin, belonging to the temple, being taken, and brought before Kasim, stated, that four
thousand Rajpoots defended the place, in which were from two to three thousand bramins, with shorn
heads, and that all his efforts would be vain; for the standard of the temple was sacred; and while it
remained entire no profane foot dared to step beyond the threshold of the holy edifice. Mahomed Kasim
having caused the catapults to be directed against the magic flag-staff, succeeded, on the third discharge, in

striking the standard, and broke it down^> Mahomed Kasim levelled the temple and its walls with the
ground and circumcised the brahmins. The infidels highly resented this treatment, by invectives against him
and the true faith. On which Mahomed Kasim caused every brahmin, from the age of seventeen and
upwards, to be put to death; the young women and children of both sexes were retained in bondage and the

old women being released, were permitted to go whithersoever they chose. ^

Multan (Punjab)

❖ ❖On reaching Mooltan, Mahomed Kasim also subdued that province; and himself occupying the city,
he erected mosques on the site of the Hindoo temples. ❖ —

Sultlan Jalalu^d-Dm Mankbarni of Khwarizm (AD 1222-1231)

Thatta (Sindh)

❖ ❖Julal -ood-Deen now occupied Tutta, destroyed all the temples, and built mosques in their stead; and
on one occasion detached a force to Nehrwala (Puttun), on the border of Guzerat^^

Sultan Sikandar Butshikan of Kashmir (AD 1389-1413)

Kashmir

❖in these days he promoted a bramin, by name Seeva Dew Bhut, to the office of prime minister, who
embracing the Mahomedan faith, became such a persecutor of Hindoos that he induced Sikundur to issue
orders proscribing the residence of any other than Mahomedans in Kashmeer; and he required that no man

should wear the mark on his forehead, or any woman be permitted to burn with her husband^s corpse.
Lastly, he insisted on all golden and silver images being broken and melted down, and the metal coined
into money. Many of the bramins, rather than abandon their religion or their country, poisoned themselves;
some emigrated from their native homes, while a few escaped the evil of banishment by becoming
Mahomedans. After the emigration of the bramins, Sikundur ordered all the temples in Kashmeer to be
thrown down; among which was one dedicated to Maha Dew, in the district of Punjhuzara, which they
were unable to destroy, in consequence of its foundation being below the surface of the neighbouring
water. But the temple dedicated to Jug Dew was levelled with the ground; and on digging into its
foundation the earth emitted volumes of fire and smoke which the infidels declared to be the emblem of the
wrath of the Deity; but Sikundur, who witnessed the phenomenon, did not desist till the building was
entirely razed to the ground, and its foundations dug up.

❖in another place in Kashmeer was a temple built by Raja Bulnat, the destruction of which was attended
with a remarkable incident. After it had been levelled, and the people were employed in digging the
foundation, a copper-plate was discovered, on which was the following inscription:- ❖Raja Bulnat, having
built this temple, was desirous of ascertaining from his astrologers how long it would last, and was
informed by them, that after eleven hundred years, a king named Sikundur would destroy it, as well as the

other temples in Kashmeer ❖❖Having broken all the images in Kashmeer, he acquired the title of the
Iconoclast, ❖Destroyer of Idols ❖❖❖—

Sultan Fath Shah of Kashmir (AD 1485-1499 and 1505-1516)

Kashmir

❖ On the imprisonment of Mahomed, Futteh Khan, assuming the reigns of government, and being formally
crowned, was acknowledged King of Kashmeer in the year 902; and appointed Suffy and Runga Ray, the
two officers who had lately made their escape, his ministers. About this time one Meer Shumsood-Deen,

disciple of Shah Kasim Anwur, the son of Syud Mahomed Noorbukhsh arrived in Kashmeer from Irak.
Futteh Khan made over to this holy personage all the confiscated lands which had lately fallen to the
crown; and his disciples went forth destroying the temples of the idolaters, in which they met with the
support of the government, so that no one dared to oppose them. In a short time many of the Kashmeeries,
particularly those of the tribe of Chuk, became converts to the Noorbukhsh tenets. The persuasion of this
sect was connected with that of the Sheeas; but many proselytes, who had not tasted of the cup of grace,

after the death of Meer Shumsood-Deen, reverted to their idols —

(47)

Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri

The author is the fourth Mughal emperor, Jahangir (AD 1605-1628). He wrote it himself as his memoirs
upto the thirteenth year of his reign, that is, AD 1617. After that his ill-health forced him to give up writing

and the work was entrusted to Mu ^ tarn ad Khan who continued writing it in the name of the emperor upto
the beginning of the nineteenth year of the reign. Muhammad Hadi continued the memoirs upto
Jahangir^s death in 1628.

Ajmer ( Rajasthan)

^^On the 7th Azar I went to see and shoot on the tank of Pushkar, which is one of the established
praying-places of the Hindus, with regard to the perfection of which they give (excellent) accounts that are
incredible to any intelligence, and which is situated at a distance of three kos from Ajmir. For two or three
days I shot waterfowl on that tank, and returned to Ajmir. Old and new temples which, in the language of
the infidels, they call Deohara are to be seen around this tank. Among them Rana Shankar, who is the uncle
of the rebel Amar, and in my kingdom is among the high nobles, had built a Deohara of great
magnificence, on which 100,000 rupees had been spent. I went to see that temple. I found a form cut out of

black stone, which from the neck above was in the shape of a pig^s head, and the rest of the body was like
that of a man. The worthless religion of the Hindus is this, that once on a time for some particular object the
Supreme Ruler thought it necessary to show himself in this shape; on this account they hold it dear and
worship it. I ordered them to break that hideous form and throw it into the tank. After looking at this
building there appeared a white dome on the top of a hill, to which men were coming from all quarters.
When I asked about this they said that a Jogi lived there, and when the simpletons come to see him he
places in their hands a handful of flour, which they put into their mouths and imitate the cry of an animal
which these fools have at some time injured, in order that by this act their sins may be blotted out. I ordered
them to break down that place and turn the Jogi out of it, as well as to destroy the form of an idol there was

in the dome^^

Kangra (Himachal Pradesh)

^K)n the 24th of the same month I went to see the fort of Kangra, and gave an order that the Qazi, the

Chief Justice (Mir &Adl), and other learned men of Islam should accompany me and carry out in the fort
whatever was customary, according to the religion of Muhammad. Briefly, having traversed about one
koss, I went up to the top of the fort, and by the grace of God, the call to prayer and the reading of the
Khutba and the slaughter of a bullock which had not taken place from the commencement of the building
of the fort till now, were carried out in my presence. I prostrated myself in thanksgiving for this great gift,

which no king had hoped to receive, and ordered a lofty mosque to be built inside the fort^>

^After going round the fort I went to see the temple of Durga, which is known as Bhawan. A world has
here wandered in the desert of error. Setting aside the infidels whose custom is the worship of idols, crowds
of the people of Islam, traversing long distances, bring their offerings and pray to the black stone (image)
Some maintain that this stone, which is now a place of worship for the vile infidels, is not the stone which
was there originally, but that a body of the people of Islam came and carried off the original stone, and
threw it into the bottom of the river, with the intent that no one could get at it. For a long time the tumult of
the infidels and idol-worshippers had died away in the world, till a lying brahman hid a stone for his own

ends, and going to the Raja of the time said: saw Durga in a dream, and she said to me: They have

thrown me into a certain place: quickly go and take me up. ^ The Raja, in the simplicity of his heart, and
greedy for the offerings of gold that would come to him, accepted the tale of the brahman and sent a
number of people with him, and brought that stone, and kept it in this place with honour, and started again

the shop of error and misleading^ ^

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)

❖I am here led to relate that at the city of Banaras a temple had been erected by Rajah Maun Singh, which
cost him the sum of nearly thirty-six laks of five methkally ashrefies. The principle idol in this temple had
on its head a tiara or cap, enriched with jewels to the amount of three laks ashrefies. He had placed in this
temple moreover, as the associates and ministering servants of the principal idol, four other images of solid
gold, each crowned with a tiara, in the like manner enriched with precious stones. It was the belief of these
Jehennemites that a dead Hindu, provided when alive he had been a worshipper, when laid before this idol
would be restored to life. As I could not possibly give credit to such a pretence, I employed a confidential
person to ascertain the truth; and, as I justly supposed, the whole was detected to be an impudent
imposture. Of this discovery I availed myself, and I made it my plea for throwing down the temple which
was the scene of this imposture and on the spot, with the very same materials, I erected the great mosque,

because the very name of Islam was proscribed at Banaras, and with God^s blessing it is my design, if I
live, to fill it full with true believers.^—

(48)

Tarikh-i-Khan Jahan Lodi

The author, Ni^amatu^Mlah, was a historian in the court of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (AD 1605-
1628). His Tdrikh is practically the same as his Makhzan-i-Afghani except for the memoirs of Khan Jahan
Lodi which have been added. Khan Jahan Lodi was one of the most illustrious generals of Jahangiri. The

history begins with Adam and comes down to AD 1612 when it was completed. Ni^amatu^llah refers to
Hindus as ^the most notorious vagabonds and rebels.^

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030)

Somnath (Gujarat)

^ After a long time, in AH 400, Allah^ conferred the honour of sultanate on Sultan Mahmud Ghazi, son
of Subuktigin^ Nine men from among the Afghan chiefs^ took to his court and joined his servants^ The
Sultan^ gave to each one of them enamelled daggers and swords, horses of good breed and robes of

special quality and, taking them with him, he set out with the intention of conquering Hindustan and
Somnat.

❖Rai Daishalim whom some historians have pronounced as Dabshalim or Dabshalam was the great ruler
of that country. The Sultan inflicted a smashing defeat on that Raja, demolished and desecrated the idol
temples there, and devastated that land of the infidels ❖❖ —

Sultan Sikandar Lodi (AD 1489-1517)

Dholpur (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖Sikandar himself marched on Friday, the 6th Ramzan AH 906 (AD March, 1501), upon Dhulpur; but
Raja Manikdeo, placing a garrison in the fort, retreated to Gwalior. This detachment however, being unable
to defend it, and abandoning the fort by night, it fell into the hands of the Muhammadan army. Sikandar on
entering the fort, fell down on his knees, and returned thanks to God, and celebrated his victory. The whole
army was employed in plundering and the groves which spread shade for seven kos around Bayana were

tom up from the roots ❖"

Mandrail (Madhya Pradesh)

❖in Ramzan of the year 910 (AD 1504), after the rising of Canopus, he raised the standard of war for the
reduction of the fort of Mandrail; but the garrison capitulating, and delivering up the citadel, the Sultan
ordered the temples and idols to be demolished, and mosques to be constructed. After leaving Mian Makan
and Mujahid Khan to protect the fort, he himself moved out on a plundering expedition into the
surrounding country, where he butchered many people, took many prisoners, and devoted to utter
destruction all the groves and habitations; and after gratifying and honouring himself by this exhibition of

holy zeal he returned to his capital Bayana. ❖

Udit Nagar (Madhya Pradesh)

❖in 912, after the rising of Canopus, the Sultan went towards the fort of Awantgar^

On the 23rd of the month, the Sultan invested the fort, and ordered the whole army to put forth their best
energies to capture it^ All of a sudden, by the favour of God, the gale of victory blew on the standards of
the Sultan, and the gate was forced open by Malik ❖Alau-d din^ The Rajputs, retiring within their own

houses, continued the contest, and slew their families after the custom of jauharft After due thanks-giving
for his victory, the Sultan gave over charge of the fort to Makan and Mujahid Khan, with directions that
they should destroy the idol temples, and raise mosques in their places ❖ ❖

Narwar (Madhya Pradesh)

❖ ❖The Sultan set out for conquering the fort of Narwar. Those inside the fort asked for refuge when they
became helpless because of the dearness of grains and scarcity of water; they sought security of their lives

and left the fort together with their goods. The Sultan took over the fort, demolished the temples and idol-
houses in it and built mosques, and fixed scholarships and stipends for the teachers and the taught. He

resided for six months in the fort. ^

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

^The Islamic sentiment (in him) was so strong that he demolished all temples in his kingdom and left no
trace of them. He constructed sarais, bazars, madrasas and mosques in Mathura which is a holy place of
the Hindus and where they go for bathing. He appointed government officials in order to see that no Hindu
could bathe in Mathra. No barber was permitted to shave the head of any Hindu with his razor. That is how

he completely curtailed the public celebration of infidel customs

Thanesar (Haryana)

Sultan Sikandar was yet a young boy when he heard about a tank in Thanesar which the Hindus regarded

as sacred and went for bathing in it. He asked the theologians about the prescription of the Sharif ah on
this subject. They replied that it was permitted to demolish the ancient temples and idol-houses of the
infidels, but it was not proper for him to stop them from going to an ancient tank. Hearing this reply, the
prince drew out his sword and thought of beheading the theologian concerned, saying that he (the

theologian) was siding with the infidels^ ^

Sultan Ibrahim Lodi (AD 1517-1526)

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh)

^ ^When the thought occurred to Sultan Ibrahim, he sent ^ Azam Humayun on this expedition^ The
Afghan army captured from the infidels the statue of a bull which was made of metals such as copper and
brass, which was outside the gate of the fort and which the Hindus used to worship. They brought it to the
Sultan. The Sultan was highly pleased and ordered that it should be taken to Delhi and placed outside the

^Red Gate^ which was known as the Baghdad Gate in those days. The statue was so fixed in front of the

^>Red Gate^ till the time of the Mughal emperor, Akbar the Great, who ordered in AH 999 that it be
melted down and used for making cannon as well as some other equipment, which are still there in the
government armoury. The author of this history^ has seen it in both shapes.^

Sultan Sulaiman Karrani of Bengal (AD 1563-1576)

Puri (Orissa)

After Taj Khan, his brother Sulaiman Karrani took possession of the province of Gaur and proclaimed

his independence^ He also made up his mind to demolish all the temples and idol-houses of the infidels.
As the biggest temple of the Hindus was in Orissa and known as Jagannath, he decided to destroy it and set
out in that direction with a well-equipped force. Reaching there, he demolished the idol-house and laid it

waste. There was an idol in it known as that of Kishan^ Sulaiman ordered that it be broken into pieces and

thrown into the drain. In like manner, he took out seven hundred golden idols from idol-temples in the
neighbouring areas'^ and broke them.—

^^When the armies of Islam entered that city, the women of the Brahmans, dressed in costly robes,
wearing necklaces, covering their heads with colourful scarves and beautifying themselves in every way,
took shelter at the back of the temple of Jagannath. They were told again and again that a Muslim army that
had entered the city would capture and take them away, and that those people would desecrate the temple

after laying it waste. But the women did not believe it at all. They kept on saying. ^How could it happen?
How could the soldiers of the Muslim army cause any injury to the idols? ^

^ When the army of Islam arrived near the temple, it made prisoners of those Hindu women. That is what
surprised them most^ ^

The History of the Afghans in India AD 1545-1631 by M.A. Rahim (Karachi, 1961) quotes Makhzan-i-
Afghana while describing the exploits of Sulaiman Karrani^s general, Kalapahar, in AD 1568. It

says: livery Afghan, who took part in the campaign, obtained as booty one or two gold images. Kala

Pahar destroyed the temple of Jagannath in Puri which contained 700 idols made of gold, the biggest of
which weighed 30 mans.^ —

(49)

Mir^at-i-Sikandari

The author, Sikandar bin Muhammad Manjhu bin Akbar, was in the employ of Aziz Koka, the Mughal
governor of Gujarat, and fought against Sultan Muzaffar Shah III, the last independent sultan of Gujarat,
who was dethroned in AD 1591.

He finished his history in 1611 or 1613. It relates the history of Gujarat from Muzaffar Shah I to Muzaffar
Shah III.

Sultan Muzaffar Shah I of Gujarat (AD 1392-1410)

Somnath ( Gujarat)

^>On his return (from Idar) the Khan made up his mind to destroy Somnat, that is, the temple of PaTandev.
But in the meanwhile he received a report that ^Adil Khan, the ruler of Asir and Burhanpur, had crossed
the border and stepped into die province of Sultanpur and Nadrabar which was under Gujarati The Khan
postponed his march to PaTandev^

^In AH 799 (AD 1394-95) he invaded Jahdand (JunagaDh)which was in the Kindgdom of Rai Bhara and
slaughtered the infidels there.

^►From there he proceeded towards Somnat, and destroyed the famous temple. He embellished that city
with the laws of Islam. ^ —

Sultan Ahmad Shah I of Gujarat (AD 1411-1443)

Sidhpur (Gujarat)

His destruction of the Rudramahalaya and construction of a mosque on the same site, as described
in Mir &at-i-Sikandari, has been related already in Chapter One. Strangely, the long verse cited from the
Aligarh text has been omitted from the English translation by Fazlullah Lutfullah Faridi, originally
published from Dharampur (Gujarat) and reprinted from Gurgaon in 1990.

General Order

^Thereafter in AH 823 (AD 1420-21) he proceeded to different parts of his Kingdom for establishing
order and good government^ He got temples demolished and palaces and mosques constructed in their
steady ^

Sultan Mahmud BegDha of Gujarat (AD 1458-1511)

Dwarka (Gujarat)

^>On 17 Zilhijja he started towards Jagat and reduced that place after marching continuously. The infidels
of lagat ran away to the island of Sankhu. The Sultan destroyed Jagat and got its palaces dismantled. He
got the idols broken^ ’

Sankhodhar ( Gujarat)

& When the Sultan saw that the infidels had gone to that island, he ordered boats from the ports and

proceeded to the island with his well-armed soldiers^ The infidels did not stint in fighting with swords and
guns. In the end the army of Islam achieved victory. A majority of the infidels were slaughtered. The
Musalmans started giving calls to prayers after mounting on top of the temples. They started destroying the

temples and desecrating the idols. The Sultan offered namaz out of gratefulness of Allah^ He got a Jami^
Masjid raised in that placed

Sultan Muzaffar Shah II of Gujarat (AD 1511-1526)

Idar (Gujarat)

^ ^The Raja of Idar ran away to the mountains and on the fourth day the Sultan started from Morasa and
halted near Idar. He ordered that the houses and temples of Idar should be destroyed in such a way that no

trace of them should remain. ^ 1

Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat (AD 1526-1537)

Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)

^►Afterwards he went towards Bhilsa which country had been conquered for Islam by Sultan Shamsu^d-
din (Altamsh), King of Delhi. Since eighteen years the estate of Bhilsa had been subject to Silahdi, and the
laws of Islam had been changed there for the customs of infidelity. When the Sultan reached the above
place, he abrogated the ordinances of infidelity and introduced the laws of Islam, and slew the idolaters and

threw down their temples

(50)

Intikhab-i-Jahangir Shabi

The name of the author is not known. He was evidently a contemporary and a companion of Jahangir.
The Tabqat-i-Shah-Jahant mentions a work written by Shykh ^ Abdul Wahab and named Akhldq-i-
Jahangiri. This work may be the same as the Intikhab. The Shykh died in 1622-23.

Nuru^d-Din Muhammad Jahangir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1605-1628)

Ahmadabad (Gujarat)

^►One day at Ahmadabad it was reported that many of the infidel and superstitious sect of

the Seoras (Jains) of Gujarat had made several very great and splendid temples, and having placed in them

their false gods, had managed to secure a large degree of respect for themselves and that the women who

went for worship in those temples were polluted by them and other peopled The Emperor Jahangir
ordered them banished from the country, and their temples to be, demolished. Their idol was thrown down
on the uppermost step of the mosque, that it might be trodden upon by those who came to say their daily
prayers there. By this order of the Emperor, the infidels were exceedingly disgraced, and Islam

exalted

(51)

T azkiratu ^ I-Muluk

It is a history of sixteenth century Bijapur written in AD 1608-09 by Rafiu^d-Din Ibrahim Shirazi, an
Iranian adventurer and diplomat.

Sultan ^Ali I ^►Adilshfih of Bijapur (AD 1557-1580)

Karnataka

Awhile campaigning in Karnataka following the fall of Vijayanagar ^Ali I^s armies destroyed two or
three hundred Hindu temples, and the monarch himself was said to have smashed four or five thousand
Hindu images ^ ^

(52)

Tarikh-i-Kashmir

The author, Haidar Malik Chadurah, was a Kashmirian nobleman in the service of Sultan Yusuf Shah (AD
1579-1586). He gives the history of Kashmir from the earliest times. Though mainly based on Rcija-
tarahgiNi, there are some additions in the later period. It was begun in AD 1618 and finished sometime
after 1620-21.

Sultan Sikandar Butshikan of Kashmir (AD 1389-1413)

Kashmir

^►During the reign of Sultan Sikandar, Mir Sayyid Muhammad, son of Mir Sayyid Hamadani^ came here,
and removed the rust of ignorance and infidelity and the evils, by his preaching and guidance^ He wrote
an epistle for Sultan Sikandar on tasawwuf Sultan Sikandar became his follower. He prohibited all types
of frugal games. Nobody dared commit acts which were prohibited by the Shariat^ The Sultan was
constantly busy in annihilating the infidels and destroyed most of the temples

Malik Musa of Kashmir

Kashmir

He was a powerful minister in the reign of Sultan Fath Shah (AD 1489-1516), but Tarikh-i-
Kashmir presents him as the monarch. It says:

^►Malik Musa ascended the throne in AH 907 (AD 1501). During his reign, he devoted himself to the
obliteration of the infidels and busied himself with the spread of the religion of the prophet. He made
desolate most of the temples where the infidels had practised idolatry. Wherever there was a temple, he

destroyed it and built a mosque in its placed None of the Sultans of Kashmir after Sultan Sikandar^ ever
made such an effort for the spread of the Islamic faith as did Malik Musa Chadurah, and for this auspicious
reason he received the title of the ^Idol Breaker^. ^ —

Sufi Mir Shamsu^d-Din Iraqi

Kashmir

He was a sufi of the Kubrawiyya sect who came to Kashmir first in AD 1481, next in AD 1501, and finally
in 1505 in the reign of Sultan Fath Shah. He found it convenient to work as a member of the Nur Bakhsh

Sufi sect. His doings are ^anticipated^ in the Tarikh-i-Kashmir in the following words:

❖ ❖Baba Uchah Ganai went for circumambulation of the two harms (Mecca and Medina) ❖ in search of
the perfect guide (Pir-i-Kamil). He prayed to God (to help) him when he heard a voice from the unknown
that the ❖perfect guided was in Kashmir himself^ Hazrat Shaikh, Baba Uchah Ganai^ returned to

Kashmiri All of a sudden his eyes fell upon a place of worship, the temples of the Hindus. He smiled;
when the devotees asked the cause of (his smile) he replied that the destruction and demolition of these
places of worship and the destruction of the idols will take place at the hand of the high horn Shaikh
Shams-ud-Din Irraqi. He will soon be coming from Iraq and shall turn the temples completely desolate, and

most of the misled people will accept the path of guidance and Islam ❖ So as was ordained Shaikh Shams-
ud-Din reached Kashmir. He began destroying the places of worship and the temples of the Hindus and
made an effort to achieve the objectives. ❖—

(53)

Mir^at-i-Mas^udi

It is a biography of Sayyid Salar Mas^ud Ghazi whose tomb at Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh) occupies the site

of a Sun Temple. It was written by Shykh ❖Abdu^r-Rahman Chishti in the reign of Jahangir (1605-
1628). He drew his main material from Tawarikh-i-Mahmudi by Mulla Muhammad Ghaznavi, a
contemporary of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (AD 997-1030). Salar Mas^Ukl, according to this account, was

the son of Sitr Mu^alla^, a sister of Sultan Mahmud, married to his general, Salar Sahu. Salar Mas^Kid
was born when the couple was staying in Ajmer. He is famous among the Muslims as GhaziMiyan, Bala
Miyan (revered boy) and Hathila Pir (the obstinate saint). There are many stories current regarding how he
led or sent many expeditions against the Hindu Kafirs in all direction from his headquarters at Satrakh in
the Barabanki District of Uttar Pradesh. He is supposed to have defeated many Rajas, plundered many
towns, and destroyed many temples, particularly in Awadh. Many tombs all over Awadh and neighbouring
areas are reputed to be the graves of his Ghdzis (veterans) who became Shahids (martys) in a
prolongcd./;7z«c/ (holy war) directed by him. He was finally caught and killed near Bahraich by a league of
Hindu Rajas. The Sun Temple which was his target escaped this time, but was destroyed when another
wave of Islamic invasion swept over the area at the end of the twelfth century.

Saiyyid Salar Mas^ud Ghazi (AD 1013-1033)

Somnath (Gujarat)

❖it happened that Mahmud had long been planning an expedition into Bhardana, and Gujarat, to destroy
the idol temple of Somnat, a place of great sanctity to all Hindus. So as soon as he had returned to Ghazni
from his Khurasan business, he issued a farman to the General of the army, ordering him to leave a
confidential officer in charge of the fort of Kabuliz, and himself to join the court with his son Salar

Mas^ud^—

❖it is related in the Tarikh-i Mahmudi that the Sultan shortly after reached Ghazni, and laid down the
image of Somnat at the threshold of the Mosque of Ghazni, so that the Musulmans might tread upon the
breast of the idol on their way to and from their devotions. As soon as the unbelievers heard of this, they
sent an embassy to Khwaja Hasan Maimandi, stating that the idol was of stone and useless to the
Musulmans, and offered to give twice its weight in gold as a ransom, if it might be returned to them.
Khwaja Hasan Maimandi represented to the Sultan that the unbelievers had offered twice the weight of the

idol in gold, and had agreed to be subject to him. He added, that the best policy would be to take the gold
and restore the image, thereby attaching die people to his Government. The Sultan yielded to the advice of
the Khwaja, and the unbelievers paid the gold into the treasury.

^>One day, when the Sultan was seated on his throne, the ambassadors of the unbelievers came, and
humbly petitioned thus: ^H)h, Lord of the world! we have paid the gold to your Government in ransom,
but have not yet received our purchase, the idol Somnat. The Sultan was wroth at their words, and,

falling into reflection, broke up the assembly and retired, with his dear Salar Mas^Kid, into his private
apartments. He then asked his opinion as to whether the image ought to be restored, or not? Salar
Mas^Kid, who was perfect in goodness, said quickly, the day of the resurrection, when the Almighty
shall call for Azar, the idol-destroyer, and Mahmud, the idol-seller. Sire! what will you say?^> This speech
deeply affected the Sultan, he was full of grief, and answered, have given my word; it will be a breach
of promise.^ Salar Mas^Kid begged him to make over the idol to him, and tell the unbelievers to get it

from him. The Sultan agreed; and Salar Mas^Kid took it to his house, and, breaking off its nose and ears,
ground them to powder.

^ When Khwaja Hasan introduced the unbelievers, and asked the Sultan to give orders to restore the image
to them, his majesty replied that Salar Mas^ud had carried it off to his house, and that he might send them
to get it from him. Khwaja Hasan, bowing his head, repeated these words in Arabic, ^No easy matter is it
to recover anything which has fallen into the hands of a lion. He then told the unbelievers that the idol

was with Salar Mas^Kid, and that they were at liberty to go and fetch it. So they went to Mas^ud^s door
and demanded their god.

^That prince commanded Malik Nekbakht to treat them courteously, and make them be seated; then to
mix the dust of the nose and ears of the idol with sandal and the lime eaten with betel-nut, and present it to
them. The unbelievers were delighted, and smeared themselves with sandal, and ate the betel-leaf. After a

while they asked for the idol, when Salar Mas^Kid said he had given it to them. They inquired, with
astonishment, what he meant by saying that they had received the idol? And Malik Nekbakht explained that
it was mixed with the sandal and betel-lime. Some began to vomit, while others went weeping and

lamenting to Khwaja Hasan Maimandi and told him what had occurred

^Afterwards the image of Somnat was divided into four parts, as is described in the Tawarikh-i-Mahmudt.

Mahmud^s first exploit is said to have been conquering the Hindu rebels, destroying the forts and the idol
temples of the Rai Ajipal (Jaipal), and subduing the country of India. His second, the expedition into
Harradawa and Guzerat, the carrying off the idol of Somnat, and dividing it into four pieces, one of which
he is reported to have placed on the threshold of the Imperial Palace, while he sent two others to Mecca and
Medina respectively. Both these exploits were performed at the suggestion, and by the advice, of the

General and Salar Mas^tid; but India was conquered by the efforts of Salar Mas^ud alone, and the idol of
Somnat was broken in pieces by his sold advice, as has been related. Salar Sahu was Sultan of the army and
General of the forces in I ran ^

Awadh (Uttar Pradesh)

❖ ❖Mas^ud hunted through the country around Bahraich, and whenever he passed by the idol temple of
Suraj-kund, he was wont to say that he wanted that piece of ground for a dwelling-place. This Suraj-kund
was a sacred shrine of all the unbelievers of India. They had carved an image of the sun in stone on the
banks of the tank there. This image they called Balarukh, and through its fame Bahraich had attained its
flourishing condition. When there was an eclipse of the sun, the unbelievers would come from east and
west to worship it, and every Sunday the heathen of Bahraich and its environs, male and female, used to
assemble in thousands to rub their heads under that stone, and do it reverence as an object of peculiar

sanctity. Mas^ud was distressed at this idolatry, and often said that, with God^s will and assistance, he
would destroy that mine of unbelief, and set up a chamber for the worship of the Nourisher of the Universe
in its place, rooting out unbelief from those parts ❖—

❖Meanwhile, the Rai Sahar Deo and Har Deo, with several other chiefs, who had kept their troops in
reserve, seeing that the army of Islam was reduced to nothing, unitedly attacked the body-guard of the
Prince. The few forces that remained to that loved one of the Lord of the Universe were ranged round him
in the garden. The unbelievers, surrounding them in dense numbers, showered arrows upon them. It was
then, on Sunday, the 14th of the month Rajab, in the aforesaid year 424 (14th June, 1033) as the time of
evening prayer came on, that a chance arrow pierced the main artery in the arm of the Prince of the

Faithful ❖—

(54)

Siyar al-Aqtab

This work was completed in AD 1647 by Allah Diya Chishti. It deals with many miracles performed by the
Sufis, particularly of the Sabriyya branch of the Chishtiyya silsila.

Shykh Mu^in al-Din Chishti of Ajmer (d. AD 1236)

Ajmer (Rajasthan)

❖Although at that time there were very many temples of idols around the lake, when the Khwaja saw
them, he said: ❖if God and His Prophet so will, it will not be long before I raze to the ground these idol
temples. ❖

❖it is said that among those temples there was one temple to reverence which the Raja and all the infidels
used to come, and lands had been assigned to provide for its expenditure. When the Khwaja settled there,
every day his servants bought a cow, brought it there and slaughtered it and ate it^

❖ So when the infidels grew weak and saw that they had no power to resist such a perfect companion of
God, they^ went into their idol temples which were their places of worship. In them there was a dev, in
front of whom they cried out and asked for help❖

❖ ❖The dev who was their leader, when he saw the perfect beauty of the Khwaja, trembled from head to
foot like a willow tree. However much he tried to say ❖Ram, Ram^, it was ❖Rahim, Rahim^ that came

from his tongue^ The Khwaja^ with his own hand gave a cup of water to a servant to take to the dev4>
He had no sooner drunk it than his heart was purified of darkness of unbelief, he ran forward and fell at the
Heaven-treading feet of the Khwaja, and professed his belief^

^The Khwaja said: also bestow on you the name of Shadi Dev [Joyful Dcval]^^

& ^>Then Shadi Dcv^> suggested to the Khwaja, that he should now set up a place in the city, where the
populace might benefit from his holy arrival. The Khwaja accepted this suggestion, and ordered one of his
special servants called Muhammad Yadgir to go into the city and set in good order a place for
faqirs. Muhammad Yadgir carried out his orders, and when he had gone into the city, he liked well the
place where the radiant tomb of the Khwaja now is, and which originally belonged to Shadi Dev, and he

suggested that the Khwaja should favour it with his residence^—

^■^Mu^in al-din had a second wife for the following reason: one night he saw the Holy Prophet in the

flesh. The prophet said: ^>You are not truly of my religion if you depart in any way from my sunnat.^ It
happened that the ruler of the Path fort, Malik Khitab, attacked the unbelievers that night and captured the
daughter of the Raja of that land. He presented her to Mu^in al-din who accepted her and named her Bibi
Umiya.^—

P.M. Currie comments:

❖ ❖The take-over of ❖pagan ❖ sites is a recurrent feature of the history of the expansion of Islam. The
most obvious precedent is to be found in the Muslim annexation of the Hajar al-aswad at Mecca^ Sir
Thomas Arnol remarks that ❖in many instances there is no doubt that the shrine of a Muslim saint marks
the site of some local cult which was practised on the spot long before the introduction of Islam. ❖

^'I here is evidence, more reliable than the tradition recorded in the Siyar al-Aqtab, to suggest that this was
the case in Ajmer. Sculpted stones, apparently from a Hindu temple, are incorporated in the Buland
Darwaza of Mu^in al-din ❖s shrine. Moreover, his tomb is built over a series of cellars which may have
formed part of an earlier templet A tradition, first recorded in the ❖Anis al-Arwah, suggests that the
Sandal Khana is built on the site of Shadi Dev^s temple. ❖ —

(55)

Badshah-Nama

The author, ❖Abdu^l Hamid Lahori, was commissioned by Shah Jahan himself to compile this history
which is a voluminous work covering the first twenty years of Shah Jahan^s reign. Lahori died in 1654.

Nuru^d-Din Muhammad Jahangir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1605-1628)

Many Places

❖Perhaps these in stances [Mewar, Kangra, and Ajmer] made a contemporary poet of his court sing his
praises as the great Muslim emperor who converted temples into mosques. ❖

Shihabu^d-Din Muhammad Shah Jahan Padshah Ghazi (AD 1628-1658)

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)

❖it had been brought to the notice of His Majesty that during the late reign many idol temples had been
begun, but remained unfinished at Benares, the great stronghold of infidelity. The infidels were now
desirous of completing them. His Majesty, the defender of the faith, gave orders that at Benares, and
throughout all his dominions in every place, all temples that had been begun should be cast down. It was
now reported from the province of Allahabad that seventy-six temples had been destroyed in the district of

Benares. ❖—

Orchha (Madhya Pradesh)

❖At the Bundela capital the Islam-cherishing Emperor demolished the lofty and massive temple of Bir
Singh Dev near his palace, and erected a mosque on its site. ❖ 1

Kashmir

❖ Some temples in Kashmir were also sacrificed to the religious fury of the emperor. The Hindu temple at
Ichchhabal was destroyed and converted into a mosque. ❖ —

(56)

Shahjahan-Nama

It was written by ❖inayat Khan whose original name was Muhammad Tahir Ashna. It comes down to AH
1068 (AD 1657-58), the year when Aurangzeb seized power and imprisoned Shah Jahan in the fort of Agra.
It presents Shah Jahan as a pious Muslim vis-a-vis the Hindu Kafirs.

Shihabu^d-Din Muhammad Shah Jahan Padshah Ghazi (AD 1628-1658)

Orchha (Madhya Pradesh)

❖When the environs of Orchha became the site of the royal standards, an ordinance was issued authorising
the demolition of the idol temple, which Bir Singh Deo had erected at a great expense by the side of his
private palace, and also the idols contained in it^^—

(57)

Mir^at-i-^Alam

The author, Bakhtawar Khan, was a nobleman of Aurangzeb^s court. He died in AD 1684. The history
ascribed to him was really compiled by Muhammad Baqa of Saharanpur who gave the name of his friend
as its author. Baqa was a prolific writer who was invited by Bakhtawar Khan to Aurangzeb^s court and
given a respectable rank. He died in AD 1683.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

General Order

^Hindu writers have been entirely excluded from holding public offices, and all the worshipping places of
the infidels and great temples of these infamous people have been thrown down and destroyed in a manner
which excites astonishment at the successful completion of so difficult a task. His Majesty personally

teaches the sacred kalima to many infidels with success^ All the mosques in the empire are repaired at
public expense. Imama, criers to the daily prayers, and readers of the khutba, have been appointed to each
of them, so that a large sum of money has been and is still laid out in these disbursements^^

(58)

^►Alamgir-Nama

This work, written in AD 1688 by Mirza Muhammad Kazim, contains a history of the first ten years of
Aurangzeb reign.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

Palamau (Bihar)

^>In 1661 Aurangzeb in his zeal to uphold the law of Islam sent orders to his Viceroy of Bihar, Daud
Khan, to conquer Palamau. In the military operations that followed many temples were destroyed ^ ^ —

Koch Bihar (Bengal)

^►Towards the end of the same year when Mir Jumla made a war on the Raja of Kuch Bihar, the Mughals
destroyed many temples during the course of, their operations. Idols were broken and some temples were
converted into mosques.^—

(59)

Ma^sir-i-^Alamgiri

The author, Saqa Must^ad Khan, completed this history in AD 1710 at the behest of ❖inayatu^llah
Khan Kashmiri, Aurangzeb^s last secretary and favourite disciple in state policy and religiosity. The

materials which Must^ad Khan used in this history of Aurangzeb^s reign came mostly from the State
archives which were thrown open to him.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ❖Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

General Order

❖The Lord Cherisher of the Faith learnt that in the provinces of Tatta, Multan, and especially at Benares,
the Brahman misbelievers used to teach their false books in their established schools, and that admirers and
students both Hindu and Muslim, used to come from great distances to these misguided men in order to
acquire this vile learning. His Majesty, eager to establish Islam, issued orders to the governors of all the
provinces to demolish the schools and temples of the infidels and with the utmost urgency put down the

teaching and the public practice of the religion of these misbelievers. ❖ —

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)

❖it was reported that, according to the Emperor^s command, his officers had demolished the temple of
Viswanath at Kashi. ❖

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

❖ ❖During this month of Ramzan abounding in miracles, the Emperor as the promoter of justice and
overthrower of mischief, as a knower of truth and destroyer of oppression, as the zephyr of the garden of
victory and the reviver of the faith of the Prophet, issued orders for the demolition of the temple situated in
Mathura, famous as the Dehra of Kesho Rai. In a short time by the great exertions of his officers the
destruction of this strong foundation of infidelity was accomplished, and on its site a lofty mosque was

built at the expenditure of a large sum^

❖Praised be the august God of the faith of Islam, that in the auspicious reign of this destroyer of infidelity
and turbulence, such a wonderful and seemingly impossible work was successfully accomplished. On
seeing this instance of the strength of the Emperor^s faith and the grandeur of his devotion to God, the
proud Rajas were stifled and in amazement they stood like images facing the wall. The idols, large and
small, set with costly jewels which had been set up in the temple were brought to Agra, and buried under
the steps of the mosque of the Begam Sahib, in order to be continually trodden upon. The name of Mathura

was changed to Islamabad. ❖—

Khandela (Rajasthan)

❖ ❖Darab Khan who had been sent with a strong force to punish the Rajputs of Khandela and to demolish
the great temple of the place, attacked the place on the 8th March/5th Safar, and slew the three hundred and

odd men who made a bold defence, not one of them escaping alive. The temples of Khandela and Sanula
and all other temples in the neighbourhood were demolished 1

Jodhpur (Rajasthan)

^K)n Sunday, the 25th May/24th Rabi. S., Khan Jahan Bahadur came from Jodhpur, after demolishing the
temples and bringing with himself some cart-loads of idols, and had audience of the Emperor, who highly
praised him and ordered that the idols, which were mostly jewelled, golden, silvery, bronze, copper or

stone, should be cast in the yard (jilaukhanah) of the Court and under the steps of the Jam^a mosque, to be
trodden on. They remained so for some time and at last their very names were lost^>

Udaipur (Rajasthan)

^^Ruhullah Khan and Ekkataz Khan went to demolish the great temple in front of the Rfinals palace,
which was one of the rarest buildings of the age and the chief cause of the destruction of life and property
of the despised worshippers Twenty machatoR Rajputs who were sitting in the temple vowed to give up
their lives; first one of them came out to fight, killed some and was then himself slain, then came out
another and so on, until every one of the twenty perished, after killing a large number of the imperialists

including the trusted slave, Ikhlas. The temple was found empty. The hewers broke the images.^

^K)n Saturday, the 24th January, 1680/2nd Muharram, the Emperor went to view lake Udaisagar,
constructed by the Rana, and ordered all the three temples on its banks to be demolished. ^

^❖On the 29th January/7th Muharram, Hasan ^ Ali Khan brought to the Emperor twenty camel-loads of

tents and other things captured from the Rfulfils palace and reported that one hundred and seventy-two
other temples in the environs of Udaipur had been destroyed. The Khan received the title of Bahadur
^ Alamgirshahi^

Amber (Rajasthan)

^>Abu Turab, who had been sent to demolish the temples of Amber, returned to Court on Tuesday, the 10th
August/24th Rajab, and reported that he had pulled down sixty-six temples^^ —

Bijapur (Karnataka)

^^Hamiduddin Khan Bahadur who had gone to demolish a temple and build a mosque (in its place) in
Bijapur, having excellently carried out his orders, came to Court and gained praise and the post of darogha
of gusalkhanah, which brought him near the Emperor^s person^ ^

Iconoclasm was a part of Aurangezb fJs Islamic Piety

his blessed nature dictated, he was characterized by perfect devotion to the rites of the Faith; he
followed the teaching of the great Imam. Abu Hanifa (God be pleased with him!), and established and
enforced to the best of his power the five foundations of Islam ^

^Through the auspices of his hearty endeavour, the Hanafi creed (i.e., the Orthodox Sunni faith) has
gained such strength and currency in the great country of Hindustan as was never seen in the times of any
of the preceding sovereigns. By one stroke of the pen, the Hindu clerks (writers) were dismissed from the
public employment. Large numbers of the places of worship of the infidels and great temples of these
wicked people have been thrown down and desolated. Men who can see only the outside of things are filled
with wonder at the successful accomplishment of such a seemingly difficult task. Arid on the sites of the

temples lofty mosques have been built^^ —

(60)

Akhbarat

These were reports from different provinces compiled in the reign of Aurangzeb.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah GhazT (AD 1658-1707)

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

^>The Emperor learning that in the temple of Keshav Rai at Mathura there was a stone railing presented by
Dara Shukoh, remarked, ^In the Muslim faith it is a sin even to look at a temple, and this Dara had
restored a railing in a temple. This fact is not creditable to the Muhammadans. Remove the railing.^ By
his order Abdun Nabi Khan (the faujdar of Mathura) removed it. ^ —

Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh)

^News came from Malwa that Wazir Khan had sent Gada Beg, a slave, with 400 troopers, to destroy all
temples around Ujjain^ A Rawat of the place resisted and slew Gada Beg with 121 of his men.^ —

Aurangabad (Maharashtra)

^The Emperor learnt from a secret news writer of Delhi that in Jaisinghpura Bairagis used to worship
idols, and that the Censor on hearing of it had gone there, arrested Sri Krishna Bairagi and taken him with
15 idols away to his house; then the Rajputs had assembled flocked to the Censor^s house, wounded three
footmen of the Censor and tried to seize the Censor himself; so that the latter set the Bairagi free and sent
the copper idols to the local subahdar. ^ —

Pandharpur (Maharashatra)

^>The Emperor, summoning Muhammad Khalil and Khidmat Rai, the darogha of hatchet-menordered
them to demolish the temple of Pandharpur, and to take the butchers of the camp there and slaughter cows
in the templet It was done. ^ -

On Way to the Deccan

^ When the war with the Rajputs was over, Aurangzeb decided to leave for the Deccan. His march seems
to have been marked with the destruction to many temples on the way. On 21 May, 1681, the
superintendent of the labourers was ordered to destroy all the temples on the route. ^

Lakheri (?)

^K)n 27 September, 1681, the emperor issued orders for the destruction of the temples at Lakheri.^

Rasulpur (?)

^ About this time, on 14 April, 1692, orders were issued to the provincial governor and the district fojdar
to demolish the temples at Rasulpur. ^

Sheogaon (?)

^►Sankar, a messenger, was sent to demolish a temple near Sheogaon. He came back after pulling it down
on 20 November, 1693.

Ajmer (Rajasthan)

^►Bijai Singh and several other Hindus were reported to be carrying on public worship of idols in a temple
in the neighbourhood of Ajmer. On 23 June, 1694, the governor of Ajmer was ordered to destroy the
temple and stop the public adoration of idol worship there. ^

Wakenkhera (?)

^The temple of Wakenkhera in the fort was demolished on 2 March, 1705. ^

Bhagwant Garh (Rajasthan)

^The newswriter of Ranthambore reported the destruction of a temple in Parganah Bhagwant Garh. Gaj
Singh Gor had repaired the temple and made some additions thereto.^

Malpura (Rajasthan)

^ Royal orders for the destruction of temples in Malpura Toda were received and the officers were
assigned for this work. ^

(61)

F athiyya-i- ^Ibriyya

This is a diary of Mir Jumla campaigns in Kuch Bihar and Assam. ^By looting,^ writes Jadunath
Sarkar, ^the temples of the South and hunting out buried treasures, Mir Jumla amassed a vast fortune. The
huge Hindu idols of copper were brought away in large numbers to be melted and cast into cannon.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

Koch Bihar (Bengal)

^►Mir Jumla made his way into Kuch Bihar by an obscure and neglected highway^ In six days the
Mughal army reached the capital (19th December) which had been deserted by the Rajah and his people in
terror. The name of the town was changed to Alamgirnagar; the Muslim call to prayer, so long forbidden in
the city, was chanted from the lofty roof of the palace, and a mosque was built by demolishing the principal

temple^^ !

(62)

Kalimat-i-Tayyibat

This is a collection of letters and orders of Aurangzeb compiled by ^Inayatullah in AD 1719 and covers
the years 1699-1704 of Aurangzeb^s reign.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

Somnath ( Gujarat)

^>The temple of Somnath was demolished early in my reign and idol worship (there) put down. It is not
known what the state of things there is at present. If the idolaters have again taken to the worship of images
at the place, then destroy the temple in such a way that no trace of the building may be left, and also expel

them (the worshippers) from the place. ■4>—

Satara (Maharashtra)

^>The village of Sattara near Aurangabad was my hunting ground. Here on the top of a hill, stood a temple
with an image of Khande Rai. By God^s grace I demolished it, and forbade the temple dancers (muralis)
to ply their shameful professions^ -

General Observation

S'l he demolition of a temple is possible at any time, as it cannot walk away from its place. S—

Sirhind (Punjab)

Sin a small village in the sarkar of Sirhind, a Sikh temple was demolished and converted into a mosque.
An imam was appointed who was subsequently killed. S—

(63)

Ganj-i-Arshadi

It is a contemporary account of the destruction of Hindu temples at Varanasi in the reign of Aurangzeb:

MubiyuSd-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb SAlamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)

SThe infidels demolished a mosque that was under construction and wounded the artisans. When the news
reached Shah Yasin, he came to Banaras fromMandyawa and collecting the Muslim weavers, demolished
the big temple. A Sayyid who was an artisan by profession agreed with one Abdul Rasul to build a mosque
at Banaras and accordingly the foundation was laid. Near the place there was a temple and many houses
belonging to it were in the occupation of the Rajputs. The infidels decided that the construction of a
mosque in the locality was not proper and that it should be razed to the ground. At night the walls of the
mosque were found demolished. Next day the wall was rebuilt but it was again destroyed. This happened
three or four times. At last the Sayyid hid himself in a comer. With the advent of night the infidels came to
achieve their nefarious purpose. When Abdul Rasul gave the alarm, the infidels began to fight and the
Sayyid was wounded by Rajputs. In the meantime, the Musalman resident of the neighbourhood arrived at
the spot and the infidels took to their heels. The wounded Muslims were taken to Shah Yasin who
determined to vindicate the cause of Islam. When he came to the mosque, people collected from the
neighbourhood. The civil officers were outwardly inclined to side with the saint, but in reality they were
afraid of the royal displeasure on account of the Raja, who was a courtier of the Emperor and had built the
temple (near which the mosque was under construction). Shah Yasin, however, took up the sword and
started for Jihad. The civil officers sent him a message that such a grave step should not be taken without

the Emperor^s permission. Shah Yasin, paying no heed, sallied forth till he reached Bazar Chau Khamba

through a fusillade of stonesThe, doors (of temples) were forced open and the idols thrown down. The
weavers and other Musalmans demolished about 500 temples. They desired to destroy the temple of Beni
Madho, but as lanes were barricaded, they desisted from going further.^ !

(64)

Kalimat-i-Aurangzeb

This is another compilation of letters and orders by ^Unayatu^llah covering the years 1703-06 of
Aurangzeb^s reign.

Muhiyu^d-Dm Muhammad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

Maharashtra

^The houses of this country (Maharashtra) are exceedingly strong and built solely of stone and iron. The
hatchet-men of the Government in the course of my marching do not get sufficient strength and power (i.e.,
time) to destroy and raze the temples of the infidels that meet the eye on the way. You should appoint an
orthodox inspector (darogha) who may afterwards destroy them at leisure and dig up their

foundations.^

(65)

Muraq^at-i-Abu^I Hasan

This is a collection of records and documents compiled by Maulana Abu^H Hasan, one of Aurangzeb^s
officers in Bengal and Orissa during AD 1655-67.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhanmiad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

Bengal and Orissa

^Order issued on all faujdars of thanas, civil officers (mutasaddis), agents of jagirdars, kroris, and amlas
from Katak to Medinipur on the frontier of Orissa:- The imperial paymaster Asad Khan has sent a letter
written by order of the Emperor, to say, that the Emperor learning from the newsletters of the province of
Orissa that at the village of Tilkuti in Medinipur a temple has been (newly) built, has issued his august
mandate for its destruction, and the destruction of all temples built anywhere in this province by the
worthless infidels. Therefore, you are commanded with extreme urgency that immediately on the receipt of
this letter you should destroy the above-mentioned temples. Every idol-house built during the last 10 or 12
years, whether with brick or clay, should be demolished without delay. Also, do not allow the crushed
Hindus and despicable infidels to repair their old temples. Reports of the destruction of temples should be

sent to the Court under the seal of the qazis and attested by pious Shaikhs.^—

( 66 )

F utuhat-i- ^ Alamgiri

The author, Ishwardas Nagar, was a Brahman from Gujarat, born around AD 1654. Till the age of thirty he
as in the service of the Chief Qazi of the empire under Aurangzeb. Later on, he took up a post under

Shuja^t Khan, the governor of Gujarat, who appointed him amin in the pargana of Jodhpur. His history

covers almost half a century of Aurangzeb^s reign, from 1657 to 1700. There is nothing in his style which
may mark him out as a Hindu. He sends to ^Hiell^ every Hindu who dies at the hands of Muslims or
otherwise, while every Muslim who gets killed becomes a ^martyr^ and attains paradise.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 16M-1707)

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

^ When the imperial army was encamping at Mathura, a holy city of the Hindus, the state of affairs with
regard to temples of Mathura was brought to the notice of His Majesty. Thus, he ordered the faujdar of the
city, Abdul Nabi Khan, to raze to the ground every temple and to construct big mosques (over their

demolished sites).

Udaipur (Rajasthan)

^The Emperor, within a short time, reached Udaipur and destroyed the gate of Dehbari, the palaces of
Rana and the temples of Udaipur. Apart from it, the trees of his gardens were also destroyed.

(67)

Nau-Bahar-i-Murshid Quli-Khani

The author, Azad al-Husaini, was a poor but learned immigrant from Persia, who presented this work in
AD 1729 to Mirza Lutfullah surnamed Murshid Quit II who had arrived in Dhaka in 1728 as the Deputy

Governor of Shujau^d-Din, the Mughal Governor of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from 1727 to 1739.

Nasirii ^d-Din Muhammad Shah Bahadur Padshah Ghazi (AD 1719-1748)

Udaipur (Tripura)

^►Tipara is a country extremely strong^ The Raja is proud of his strength and the practice of conch¬
blowing and idol-worship prevailed there ^

^►Murshid Quit II decided to conquer Tipara and put down idolatry there. He wrote to Sayyid Habibullah
(the Commander-in-Chief), Md. Sadiq, Mir Hashim, Shaikh Sirajuddin Md., and Mahdi Beg who were then
engaged in the Chittogong expedition, that^ they should set out with their forces, observing every
precaution, arrive close to the Kingdom of Tipara, and try to conquer it^^

^>The Tipara soldiers did not fail to fight regardless of death. The Muslim troops invested the fort from
four sides. A severe battle was fought. The zamindar^s men lay dead in heaps. The victors entered the

fort^ The flag of Murshid Quli Khan was unfurled on the top of fort Udaipur. The Muslims raised the cry
of Allahu-akbar and the Muslim credo (There is no deity except Allah and Muhammad is His messenger),

and demolished the temple of the zamindar which had long been the seat of idol-worship. Making a level
courtyard on the side of the temple, they read the Khutba in the Emperor^s name^ The world-
illuminating sun of the faith of Muhammad swept away the dark night of infidelity, and the bright day of
Islam dawned. ❖—

( 68 )

Kanzu ❖l-Mahfuz

The name and position of the author is not known. It deals with the history of the ❖ Um may ids, the
Ghaznivids and the Muslim dynasties of India.

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ❖Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

Agra (Uttar Pradesh)

❖in the city of Agra there was a large temple, in which there were numerous idols, adorned and
embellished with precious jewels and valuable pearls. It was the custom of the infidels to resort to this
temple from far and near several times in each year to worship the idols, and a certain fee to the
Government was fixed upon each man, for which he obtained admittance. As there was a large congress of
pilgrims, a very considerable amount was realized from them, and paid into the royal treasury. This practice
had been observed to the end of the reign of the Emperor Shah Jahan, and in the commencement of

Aurangzeb ❖s government; but when the latter was informed of it, he was exceedingly angry and abolished
the custom. The greatest nobles of his court represented to him that a large sum was realized and paid into
the public treasury, and that if it was abolished, a great reduction in the income of the state would take

place. The Emperor observed, ❖What you say is right, but I have considered well on the subject, and have
reflected on it deeply; but if you wish to augment the revenue, there is a better plan for attaining the object
by exacting the jizya. By this means idolatry will be suppressed, the Muhammadan religion and the true
faith will be honoured, our proper duty will be performed, the finances of the state will be increased, and

the infidels will be disgraced. ❖ ❖This was highly approved by all the nobles; and the Emperor ordered all
the golden and silver idols to be broken, and the temple destroyed ❖ ❖

(69)

Muntikhabu^l-Lubab

The author, Hashim ❖Alt Khan, is better known by his designation of KhafT Khan. His father was also a
historian in the employ of Aurangzeb. He was brought up in the court of Aurangzeb, made a diwan, but
was ordered to stop writing history. He, however, continued writing in secret. Muhammad Shah was
pleased when he saw what had been written and named him Khafi Khan. The work is also known
as Tarikh-i-Khafi Khan. It starts with the invasion of Babur in AD 1519 and comes upto the fourteenth year
of Bahadur Shah (AD 1719-1748). He refers to the Hindus as evil dogs, accursed wretches, etc.

Shihabu^d-Din Muhammad Shah Jahan Padshah Ghazi (1628-1658)

After describing the destruction of temples in Benares and Gujarat, this author stated that ^The materials
of some of the Hindu temples were used for building mosques.^ !

Hargaon (Uttar Pradesh)

^>In AD 1630-31 (AH 1040) when Abdal, the Hindu chief of Hargaon in the province of Allahabad,
rebelled, most of the temples in the state were either demolished or converted into mosques. Idols were
burnt. O

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ^Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (1658-1707)

Golkonda (Andhra Pradesh)

^On the capture of Golkonda, the Emperor appointed Abdur Rahim Khan as Censor of the city of
Haiderabad with orders to put down infidel practices and (heretical) innovations and destroy the temples
and build mosques on their sites. ^

Bijapur (Karnataka)

^The fall and capture of Bijapur was similarly solemnized though here the destruction of temples was
delayed for several years, probably till 1698.^-

Sikh Temples (Punjab)

Aurangzeb ordered the temples of the Sikhs to be destroyed and the guru^s agents ( masands) for
collecting the tithes and presents of the faithful to be expelled from the cities.^—

Shah ❖Alam Bahadur Shah Padshah Ghazi (AD 1707-1712)

Jodhpur (Rajasthan)

4>Ajit Singh sent a message humbly asking that Khan Zaman and th eKaziu I-Kuzdt might come into
Jodhpur, to rebuild the mosques, destroy idol-temples, enforce the provisions of the law about the summons
to prayer and the killing of cows, to appoint magistrates and to commission officers to collect the jizya. His

submission was graciously accepted, and his requests granted

(70)

Mir^at-i-Ahmadi

This is the most important Persian history of Gujarat. It starts with the Hindu Rajas of ANhilwaD PaTan
and ends with the establishment of Maratha rule in the eighteenth century. It was written after the Third

Battle of Panipat in AD 1761. The author, ❖Alt Muhammad Khan, came to Gujarat from Burhanpur in
1708-09 and, when grown up, had access to official records.

Sultan ❖Alau^d-Din Khalji (AD 1296-1316)

Sidhpur (Gujarat)

❖ ❖When Raja Sidhraj Jaisingh Solanki became the king, he extended his conquest as far as Malwa and
Burhanpur etc. and laid foundation of lofty forts such as the forts of Broach and Dabhoi etc. He dug the
tank of Sahastraling in Pattan, many others in Biramgam and at most places in Sorath. His reign is known

as ❖ Sang Bast^, the Age of Stone Buildings. He founded the city of Sidhpur and built the famous
Rudramal Temple. It is related that when he intended to build Rudramal, he summoned astrologers to elect
an auspicious hour for it. The astrologers said to him that some harm through heavenly revolution is
presaged from Alauddin when his turn comes to the Saltanat of Dihli. The Raja relied on the statement of

astrologers and entered into a pledge and pact with the said Sultan. The Sultan had said. ❖ !(' I do not

destroy it under terms of the pact, yet I will leave some religious vestiges. ❖ When, after some time, the
turn of the Sultan came to the Saltanat of Delhi, he marched with his army to that side and left religious
marks by constructing a masjid and a minar^^ —

Somnath (Gujarat)

❖in the year 696, six hundred and ninety-six, he sent an army for the conquest of Gujarat under the
command of Ulugh Khan who became famous among the Gujaratis as Alp Khan and Nusrat Khan Jalesri.
These Khans subjected Naharwala that is, Pattan and the whole of that dominion to plunder and

pillaged They broke the idol of Somnat which was installed again after Sultan Mahmud Ghaznawi and
sent riches, treasure, elephants, women and daughters of Raja Karan to the Sultan at Delhi^^ —

Patan (Gujarat)

❖After conquest of Naharwala and expulsion of Raja Karan, Ulugh Khan occupied himself with the
government. From that day, governors were appointed on this side on behalf of the Sultans of Dilhi. It is
said that a lofty masjid called Masjid-i-Adinah (Friday Masjid) of marble stone which exists even today is
built by him. It is popular among common folk that error is mostly committed in counting its many pillars.

They relate that it was a temple which was converted into a masjid ❖ Most of the relics and vestiges of
magnificence and extension of the ancient prosperity of Pattan city are found in the shape of bricks and
dried clay, which inform us about the truth of this statement, scattered nearly to a distance of three kurohs
(one kuroh = 2 miles) from the present place of habitation. Remnants of towers of the ancient fortifications
seen at some places are a proof of repeated changes and vicissitudes in population due to passage of
times. Most of the ancient relics gradually became extinct. Marble stones, at the end of the rule of rajas,
were brought from Ajmer for building temples in such a quantity that more than which is dug out from the
earth even now. All the marble stones utilized in the city of Ahmedabad were (brought) from that

placed ❖—

Sultan Muzaffar Shah I of Gujarat (AD 1392-1410)

Somnath (Gujarat)

^He made efforts at the proclamation of the word of God (confession of the Muslim faith). He led an army
for plundering the temple of Somnat, that is, Pattan Dev. He spread Islam at most of the places^ ^ -

Sultan Ahmad Shah I of Gujarat (AD 1411-1443)

Sidhpur (Gujarat)

^In the year 817, eight hundred and seventeen Hijri, he resolved to march with intent of jihad against the
unbelievers of Girnar, a famous fort in Sorath. Raja Mandalik fought with him but was defeated and took
refuge in the fort. It is narrated that even though that land (region) this time did not get complete brightness
form the lamp of Islam, yet the Sultan subdued the fort of lunagadh situated near the foot of Girnar
mountain. Most of the Zamindars of Sorath became submissive and obedient to him and agreed to pay
tribute. After that, he demolished the temple of Sayyedpur in the month of Jamadi I of the year 818, eight

hundred and eighteen Hijri^ In the year 823, eight hundred and twenty-three Hijri, he attended to the
establishment of administrative control over his dominion. He suppressed refractoriness wherever it was
found. He demolished temples and constructed masjids in their places^^ —

Sultan Mahmud BegDah of Gujarat (AD 1458-1511)

Junagadh (Gujarat)

^>Rao Mandalik saw that his fate was sealed. He fled at night to the fort and gave him a battle. When the
warfare continued for some time provisions in the fort became scarce. He requested the Sultan in all
humility to save his life. The Sultan agreed on condition of his accepting Islam. Rao Mandalik came down

from the fort, surrendered the fortes keys to the Sultan. The Sultan offered recitation of the word of Unity
to him to repeat. He instantly recited it. The fort was conquered in the year 877, eight hundred and seventy-
seven^ In a few days, he populated a city which can be called Ahmedabad and named it Mustafabad. Rao
Mandalik was given the title of Khan Jahan with a grant of jagir. He gave away as presents the gold idols
brought from the temple of Rao Mandalik to all soldiers

Sankhodhar ( Gujarat)

^This victory took place in the year 878, eight hundred and seventy-eight; the island of Sankhodar was
never conquered in any age by any king of the past. It is related that the Sultan performed two genuflexions
of namaz out of thanksgiving at the time of demolishing the temple and breaking the idols of Jagat. He
grew eloquent in recitation of praise out of gratitude to God. The Muslims raised calls to namaz (azan) by

loud voice from top of temples^ He built a masjid there. ^

Idar (Gujarat)

❖He marched towards Malwa, in the same month, from Muhammedabad for repulsion of unbelievers and
defence of religious-minded Muslims. He halted at the town of Godhra for reinforcement of powerful
forces when he received a report about insolence of the Raja of Idar. He, therefore, marched thither and
ordered to demolish houses and temples of Idar. This event took place in the year 919, nine hundred and

nineteen Hijri^^—

Muhiyu^d-Din Muhammad Aurangzeb ❖Alamgir Padshah Ghazi (AD 1658-1707)

Ahmadabad (Gujarat)

❖During the Subedari of religious-minded, noble prince, vestiges of the Temple of Chintaman situated on
the side of Saraspur built by Satidas jeweller, were removed under the Princess order and a masjid was
erected on its remains. It was named ❖ Quwwat-ul-Islam^ ❖ ❖—

Gujarat

❖ As it has come to His Majesty^s knowledge that some inhabitants of the mahals appertaining to the
province of Gujarat have (again) built the temples which had been demolished by imperial order before his
accession ❖ therefore His Majesty orders that^ the formerly demolished and recently restored temples
should be pulled down.^ —

Vadnagar (Gujarat)

❖The Emperor ordered the destruction of the Hateshwar temple at Vadnagar, the special guardian of the
Nagar Brahmans. ❖ —

Malarina (Rajasthan)

❖ Salih Bahadur was sent to pull down the temple of Malania. ❖—

Sorath (Gujarat)

❖in AD 1696-97 (AH 1108) orders were issued for the destruction of the major temples at Sorath in
Gujarat. ❖—

Dwarka (Gujarat)

❖He stopped public worship at the Hindu temple of Dwarka. ❖

(71)

Tarikh-i-Ibrahim Khan

It was composed by Nawab Ibrahim Khan and written down by Mulla Baksh in the town of Benares. It was
finished in the year AD 1786. It is mainly a history of the Marathas.

Ahmad Shah Abdali (AD 1747-1773)

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

$ Ahmad Shah Abdali in the year AH 1171 (AD 1757-58), came from the country of Kandahar to
Hindustan, and on the 7th of Jumadal awwal of that year, had an interview with the Emperor ^Alamgir II,

at the palace of Shah-Jahanabad4> After an interval of a month, he set out to coerce Raja Suraj Mai Jat,
who from a distant period, had extended his sway over the province of Agra, as far as the environs of the
city of Delhi. In three days he captured Balamgarh, situated at a distance of fifteen kos from Delhi After
causing a general massacre of the garrison he hastened towards Mathura, and having razed that ancient
sanctuary of the Hindus to the ground, made all the idolaters fall a prey to his relentless sword ^ ^

(72)

Tarikh-i-Husain Shahi

It was written in AD 1797-98 by Sayyid Imamu^d-Din al-Husain. We have not been able to obtain other
particulars about it.

Ahmad Shah Abdali (AD 1747-1773)

Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)

Idols were broken and kicked about like polo-balls by the Islamic heroes.

(73)

Nishan-i-Haidari

The author, Mir Hussain ^ Ali Kirmani, describes his work as 4>the History of the Nawab Hyder Ali Khan

Bahadur, and a commentary on the reign and actions of Tipu Sultan.^ He completed the work in AD
1802. We have been able to get an English translation of the second part only.

Tipu Sultan (AD 1782-1799)

Srirangapatnam (Karnataka)

O^At this time the Sultan determined to recommence the building of the Masjidi Ala, the erection of
which had been suspended since the year 1198 Hijri, and the Daroghu Public buildings, according to the

plan, which will be mentioned hereafter, completed it in two years, at the expense of three lakhs of
rupees ❖

❖ ❖It is known that when the vile and rejected Brahman Khunda Rao imprisoned the Nawab^s Zanana

and the Sultan (who was then a boy of six or seven years of age) in a house in the fort^ there stood a
Hindu temple, the area or space round which was large. The Sultan, therefore, in his infancy being like all
children fond of play, and as in that space boys of Kinhiri Brahmin castes assembled to amuse themselves,

was accustomed to quit the house to see them play, or play with them^ It happened one day that a Fakir (a
religious mendicant) a man of saint-like mind passed that way, and seeing the Sultan gave him a life
bestowing benediction, saying to him, ❖Fortunate child, at a future time thou will be the king of this
country, and whey thy time comes, remember my words-take this temple and destroy it, and build a Masjid
in its place, and for ages it will remain a memorial of thee. ❖ The Sultan smiled, and in reply told him,
❖that whenever, by his blessing, he should become a Padishah, or king, he would do as he (the Fakir)

directed. ❖ When, therefore, after a short time his father became a prince, the possessor of wealth and
territory, he remembered his promise, and after his return from Nagar and Gorial Bundar, he purchased the
temple from the adorers of the image in it (which after all was nothing but the figure of a bull, made of
brick and mortar) with their goodwill, and the Brahmins, therefore, taking away their image, placed it in the
Deorhi Peenth, and the temple was pulled down, and the foundations of a new Masjid raised on the site,

agreeably to a plan of the Mosque built by Ali Adil Shah, at Bijapur, and brought thence. ❖

The nature of the purchase needs no comment:

(74)

Riyazu ❖s-Salatin

This is a history of Bengal from the invasion of Bakhtiyar Khalji to AD 1788 when the British were in
complete control. The author, Ghulam Hussain Salim of Zaidpur in Awadh, had migrated to Bengal and
become a Postmaster in Malda. He died in AD 1817.

Ikhtiyaru^d-Din Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji (AD 1202-1206)

Lakhnauti (Bengal)

❖Muhammad Bakhtiyar sweeping the town with the broom of devastation, completely demolished it, and
making anew the city of Lakhnauti^ his metropolis, ruled over Bengali and strove to put in practice the
ordinances of the Muhammadan religion ❖ and for a period ruling over Bengal he engaged in demolishing
the temples and building mosques. ❖—

Sulaiman Karrani of Bengal (AD 1563-1576)

Orissa

❖ Kalapahar, by successive and numerous fightings, vanquished the Rajah's forces, and brought to his
subjection the entire dominion of Odisah (Orissa), so much so that he carried off the Rani together with all
household goods and chattels. Notwithstanding all this, from fear of being killed, no one was bold to wake
up this drunkard of the sleep of negligence, so that Kalapahar had his hands free. After completing the

subjugation of the entire country, and investing the Fort of BarahbaTi, which was his (the Rajah^>s) place

of sleep, Kalapahar engaged in fighting ❖ The firm Muhammadan religion and the enlightened laws of
Islam were introduced into that country. Before this, the Musalman Sovereigns exercised no authority over
this country. Of the miracles of Kalapahar, one was this, that wherever in that country, the sound of his
drum reached, the hands and the feet, the ears and the noses of the idols, worshipped by the Hindus, fell off
their stone-figures, so that even now stone-idols, with hands and feet broken, and noses and ears cut off, are
lying at several places in that country. And the Hindus pursuing the false, from blindness of their hearts,
with full sense and knowledge, devote themselves to their worship!

It is known what grows out of stone:

From its worship what is gained, except shame?

❖it is said at the time of return, Kalapahar left a drum in the jungle of Kaonjhar, which is lying in an upset
state. No one there from fear of life dares to set it up; so it is related. ❖’

(75)

Bahar-i^Azam

It is an account of a journey undertaken in 1823 by ❖Azam Jah Bahadur ❖after he ascended the throne of

the Carnatic as Nawwab Walajah VI.❖— The author, Ghulam ❖Abdul Qadir Nazir, was his court scribe
who accompanied the Nawwab on this journey. Nazir does not tell us that his patron was a Nawwab only in
name as he was living in Madras on British charity, his ancestral principality of Arcot having been ceded to

the British in 1801. What he says instead is how the ❖Nawwab^ lost his temper when he leamt that the
Muslims in his retinue were visiting the Hindu temples at Chidambaram and how he ❖gave strict orders❖
to British officers of the place ❖that no Muslim should be allowed to go over to the temple and enter
it. ❖ At a later stage, we are told that ❖the party marched forth ❖ to the accompaniment of music

provided by dancing girls of the Hindu community. ❖— The account names numerous Sufis etc., who
came to the districts of Chingleput, North Arcot, South Arcot, Tiruchirapalli and Thanjavur and established
Muslim places of worship. What these new monuments replaced becomes obvious from the following few
instances.

Sufi Natthar Wall

Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu)

❖it is said that in ancient days Trichila, an execrable monster with three heads, who was a brother of
Rawan, with ten heads, had the sway over this country. No human being could oppose him. But as per the
saying of the Prophet, ❖Islam will be elevated and cannot be subdued^, the Faith took root by the efforts
of Hazarat Natthar Wali. The monster was slain and sent to the house of perdition. His image namely but-
ling worshipped by the unbelievers was cut and the head was separated from the body. A portion of the

body went into the ground. Over that spot is the tomb of the Wali, shedding rediance till this day.^H

Sufi Shah Bheka

^Shah Bheka^ when he was at Trichinopoly during the days of Rani Minachi, the unbelievers who did
not like his stay there harassed him. One day when he was very much vexed, he got upon the bull in front
of the temple, which the Hindus worship calling it swami , and made it move on by the power and strength

of the Supreme Life Giver^ They abandoned the temple and gave the entire place on the aruskalwa as
present to the Shah. ^

Sufi Qayim Shah

^Qayim Shah^ came here from Hindustan. He was the cause for the destruction of twelve temples. He
lived to an old age and passed away on the 17th Safar AH 1193.^ 1

Sufi Nur Muhammad Qadiri

Vellore (Tamil Nadu)

^Hazarat Nur Muhammad Qadiri was the most unique man regarded as an invaluable person of his age.
Very often he was the cause of the ruin of temples. Some of these were laid waste. He selected his own
burial ground in the vicinity of the temple. Although he lived five hundred years ago, people at large still

remember his greatness. ■4>—

(76)

Asaru ❖s-Sanadid

It is a book on the antiquities of Delhi written by Sayyid Ahmad Khan, the famous founder of the Aligarh
Muslim University. Its first edition was published in 1847, the second in 1854, and the third in 1904. A new
edition with a long introduction, footnotes, comments, bibliography, and index has been published recently.
We are reproducing relevant passages from this edition.

Qutbu &d-Din Aibak (AD 1192-1210)

Iron Pillar: ^In our opinion this pillar was made in the ninth century before (the birth of) Lord Jesus ^
When Rai Pithora built a fort and an idol-house near this pillar, it stood in the courtyard of the idol-house.
And when Qutbu^d-Din Aibak constructed a mosque after demolishing the idol-house, this pillar stood in
the courtyard of the mosque^ ^ —

Idol-house of Rai Pithora: ^There was an idol-house near the fort of Rai Pithora. It was very famous^ It
was built along with the fort in 1200 Bikarmi [Vikrama SaMvat] corresponding to AD 1143 and AH 538.

The building of this temple was very unusual, and the work done on it by stone-cutters is such that nothing
better can be conceived. The beautiful carvings on every stone in it defy description ❖ The eastern and
northern portions of this idol-house have survived intact. The fact that the Iron Pillar, which belongs to the
Vaishnava faith, was kept inside it, as also the fact that sculptures of Kirshan avatar and Mahadev and
Ganesh and Hanuman were carved on its walls, leads us to believe that this temple belonged to the
Vaishnava faith. Although all sculptures were mutilated in the times of Muslims, even so a close scrutiny
can identify as to which sculpture was what. In our opinion there was a red-stone building in this idol-
house, and it was demolished. For, this sort of old stones with sculptures carved on them are still

found. ❖—

Quwwat al-Islam Masjid : ❖When Qutbu^d-Din, the commander-in-chief of Muizzu^d-Din Sam alias

Shihabu^d-Din Ghuri, conquered Delhi in AH 587 corresponding to AD 1191 corresponding to 1248
Bikarmi, this idol-house (of Rai Pithora) was converted into a mosque. The idol was taken out of the
temple. Some of the images sculptured on walls or doors or pillars were effaced completely, some were
defaced. But the structure of the idol-house kept standing as before. Materials from twenty-seven temples,
which were worth five crores and forty lakhs of Dilwals, were used in the mosque, and an inscription

giving the date of conquest and his own name was installed on the eastern gate^>

❖When Malwah and Ujjain were conquered by Sultan Shamsu^d-Din in AH 631 corresponding to AD
1233, then the idol-house of Mahakal was demolished and its idols as well as the statue of Raja Bikramajit
were brought to Delhi, they were strewn in front of the door of the mosque ❖ ❖—

❖in books of history, this mosque has been described as Masjid-i-Adinah and Jama^ Masjid Delhi, but
Masjid Quwwat al-Islam is mentioned nowhere. It is not known as to when this name was adopted.
Obviously, it seems that when this idol-house was captured, and the mosque constructed, it was named

Quwwat al-Islam ❖ ❖—

Sultan Shamsu ❖ d-Din Iltutmish (AD 1210-1236)

Tomb of Sultan Gharv. Sayyid Ahmad Khan notices this tomb and describes it as exquisite. He says that it
was built in AH 626 corresponding to AD 1228 when the corpse of Sultan Nasiru^d-Din Mahmud, the

eldest son of Sultan Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish, who was Governor of Laknauti and who died while his
father was still alive, was brought to Delhi and buried.— But the editor, Khaleeq Anjum, comments in his
introduction that ❖ the dome of the mosque which is of marble has been re-used and has probably been
obtained from some templet, and that the domes on the four pavilions outside ❖are in Hindu style in their
interior.^ He provides greater details in his notes at the end of Sayyid Ahmad^s work. He writes:

❖ ❖This is the first Muslim tomb in North India, if we overlook some others. And it is the third historical
Muslim monument in India after Quwwat al-Islam Masjid and ADhai Din Ka JhonpRa^ Stones from
Hindu temples have been used in this tomb also, as in the Quwwat al-Islam Masjid. ❖—

❖ ❖in the middle of the corridor on the west there is a marble dome. A look at the dome leads to the
conclusion that it has been brought from some temple. The pillars that have been raised in the western
corridor are of marble and have been made in Greek style. It is clear that they belong to some other

building^

Sultan Ghiyasu^d-Din Tughlaq (AD 1320-1325)

Tomb of Ghiyasu &cl-Dtn Tughlaq: Similarly, Sayyid Ahmad notices this tomb in some detail but does not

describe its Hindu features.— Khaleeq Anjum, however, says in his introduction that ^corridors inside
this tomb have been constructed in the style of Hindu architecture, and the pillars as well as the beams in
the corridors are fully of Hindu fashion.^ He repeats the same comments in his notes at the end. ^ -

Nasiru^d-Din Muhammad Humayun Padshah Ghazi (AD 1530-1540 and 1556)

Nili Chhatri: ^>At the foot of Salim Garh and on the bank of the Jamuna, there is a small Baradari near

Nigambodh Ghat^ It is known as Nili Chhatri because of the blue mosaic work on its dome. This Chhatri
was built by Humayun Badshah in AH 939 corresponding to AD 1533 in order to have a view of the river.
Hindus ascribe this Chhatri to the time of the PaNDus. Even if that is not true, this much is certain that the
bricks with mosaic work which have been used in this Chhatri have been taken from some Hindu place
because the bricks bear broken and mutilated images. On account of a derangement of the carvings, some
have only the head left, while some others show only the torso. This derangement of carvings also goes to
prove that these bricks have been placed here after being taken out from somewhere else. According to the
Hindus, Raja Judhastar had performed a Jag [Yajna] at this Ghat. It is not inconceivable that in the Hindu
era a Chhatri had been built at some spot on this Ghat in commemoration of the Jag, and that this Chhatri

was built in the reign of Humayun after demolition of that (older) Chhatri^—

He repeats some of these comments while describing the Nigambodh Ghat^

(77)

Hadiqah-i-Shuhada

This was written in the reign of Nawab Wajid ^Ali Shah of Awadh (AD 1847-1856) by Mirza ^Ali Jan,

an eyewitness of and active participant in the jihad led by Amir fb A li Amethawi in 1855 for recapturing
the Hanuman GaRhi temple at Ayodhya. The temple had been converted into a mosque in the reign of
Aurangzeb but restored when Muslim power suffered an eclipse. The work was written immediately after
the failure of the jihad and published in 1856.

Zahiru^d-Din Muhammad Babur Padshah Ghazi (AD 1026-1030)

Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh)

^Wherever they found magnificent temples of the Hindus ever since the establishment of Sayyid Salar
Mas ^ ud Ghazi ^s rule, the Muslim rulers in India built mosques, monasteries and inns, appointed

mu^azzins, teachers, and store-stewards, spread Islam vigorously and vanquished the Kafirs. Likewise,
they cleared up Faizabad and Avadh, too, from the filth of reprobation (infidelity), because it was a great

centre of worship and capital of Ramans father. Where there stood the great temple (of Ramjanmasthan),
there they built a big mosque, and where there was a small mandap (pavilion), there they erected a camp
mosque (masjid-i-mukhtasar-i-qanati). The Janmasthan temple is the principal place of Ramans
incarnation, adjacent to which is the Sita ki Rasoi. Hence, what a lofty mosque was built there by king
Babar in AH 923 (AD 1528) under the patronage of Musa Ashiqan! The mosque is still known far and wide

as the Sita ki Rasoi mosque. And that temple is extant by its side ( aur pahlu mein wah dair baqi hai).4k

(78)

Muraqqa^-i-Khusrawi

It was completed in 1869 by Shykh ^ Azmat Alt Kakorwi Nami who was an eyewitness of much that

happened in the reign of Wajid ^>Ali Shah. The work, known as Tdrikh-i-Awadh also, was published for
the first time in 1986 by the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Committee, U.P., Lucknow, but the chapter dealing
with th s jihad led by Amir ^ Ali Amethawi was left out. This chapter was published separately by Dr. Zaki
Kakorawi from Lucknow in 1987.

Zahiru^d-Din Muhammad Babur Padshah Ghazi (AD 1526-1530)

Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh)

^►According to old records, it has been a rule with the Muslim rulers from the first to build mosques,
monasteries, and inns, spread Islam, and put (a stop to) non-Islamic practices, wherever they found
prominence (of kufr). Accordingly, even as they cleared up Mathura, Bindraban etc., from the rubbish of
non-Islamic practices, the Babari mosque was built up in AH 923 (?) under the patronage of Sayyid Musa
Ashiqan in the Janmasthan temple (butkliane Janmsthan mein ) in Faizabad Avadh, which was a great place

of (worship) and capital of Ramans father^

4k A great mosque was built on the spot where Sita ki Rasoi is situated. During the regime of Babar, the
Hindus had no guts to be a match for the Muslims. The mosque was built in AH 923 (?) under the
patronage of Sayyid Mir Ashiqan^ Aurangzeb built a mosque on the Hanuman Garhi 4k The Bairagis
effaced the mosque and erected a temple in its place. Then idols began to be worshipped openly in the
Babari mosque where the Sita ki Rasoi is situated.^

(79)

W aqi ❖at-i-Mamalakat-i-Bijapur

This is an Urdu work compiled in 3 volumes by Bashir^ud-Din Ahmad in AD 1913-14 and published
from Agra in 1915. The first two volumes are translations of Basdtin al-Saldtin, a general history of Bijapur
written in 1811 by Muhammad Ibrahim Zubairi. The third volume contains details collected by

Bashiru^d-Din Ahmad himself from the life-stories and sayings of Sufis.

Sultan ^Ali ^Adil Shah I of Bijapur (AD 1558-1580)

Mudgal (Karnataka)

^ And in Mudgal town located 75 miles south-east of Bijapur ^ Ali I tore down two temples and replaced
them with ashurkhanas, or houses used in the celebration of Shi^a festivals.

(80)

Mosque Architecture of Pre-Mughal Bengal

This is a modern work published from Dacca (Bangladesh) in 1979. The author. Dr. Syed Mahmudul
Hasan, had submitted it as his Ph.D. thesis to the University of London in 1965. He has been the Head of
the Post-Graduate Department of Islamic History and Culture in Jagannath University College in Decca, a
member of F.R.A.S. and F.S.A. (Scot), and has served on the staff of the Department of Eastern Art in the
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The book is documented from impeccable sources, literary and
archaeological. It carries 43 plates with 45 photographs of monuments, and of inscriptions etc. discovered
in them. We have brought together, from different pages, the passages which relate to the same subject.

General and Persistent Practice

^The Muslim invaders were necessarily impressed by Indian architecture and sculpture, expressing as
they do foreign religious emotions in terms of images and emblems. What they saw at Delhi, and the other
cities of India, which they attacked, was absolutely foreign to them. Yet when they came to raise their own

religious buildings, they were not averse to using the spoils of their temples^—

4>The ruthless desecration and makeshift conversion of Indian temples into Mosques has led many
scholars to regard Indo-Muslim architecture as nothing more than a local variety of hybrid nature. In point
of fact, these early Indian mosques which were compiled from Brahamanical fragments, such as the Deval
Masjid at Bodhan near Hyderabad, have no direct bearing on the general development of Mosque

architecture in India. ■4^—

^On the other hand the use of the spoils of non-Muslim ruins was a widely recognised feature in early
Muslim architecture^

4k Just as later Mughal painting is a harmonious blend of Persian and Indian artistic tradition, so the Indo-
Muslim architecture of Delhi and Ajmer is a blend. In the Quwwat al-Islam at Delhi and the Arhai din-ka-
Jhopra at Ajmer, existing remains bear unmistakable evidence that they were not merely compilations, but

the distinctive, planned works of professional architects^ —

^Although constructed of destroyed Hindu temples, the Mosques at Old Delhi and Ajmer once and for all
set the fashion to be followed by later mosques in Muslim India^>

^>The early formative phase of Indo-Muslim architecture, marked by the adaptation of Hindu, Buddhist or
Jaina temples, is illustrated by the oldest Mosques at Delhi, Bengal, Jaunpur, Daulatabad, Patan, etc. In
Malwa, also, spoils of Hindu temples were used^X" 1

^►Creighton says, ^Mt appears to have been the general practice of the Muhammadan conquerors of India,

to destroy all the temples of the idolaters, and to raise Mosque out of their ruins. ^ The statement is of
course a gross exaggeration, for innumerable contemporary Hindu and Buddhist temples still exist in the
cities of India once conquered by the Muslims. ^ Abid ^ Ali seems to have carried the observation of

Creighton further when he remarks, ^Ht seems to the writer that the builder of the Mosque [Chhoto Sona
Masjid at Gaud] had collected the stones containing the figure of the Hindu gods from the citadel of Gaur
where temples must have existed in the time of the earlier Hindu kings. ^ Incidentally, Ravenshaw gave
illustrations of sculptured stones, representing stone capitals and Makara gargoyles, which have been
discovered in Hazrat Pandua. Westmacott, however, thinks that the circular stone given in Ravenshaw^s

plate XXX ^formed a part of the high ornament or pinnacle with which both the Buddhist Stupas and later
Hindu temples were usually crowned. I have seen similar pieces at Debkot, and elsewhere, often with a
perforation through the centre, through which I conjecture that a rod of metal, or perhaps a column of

molten lead may have been passed, to retain it in an upright position^. In the event of a prodigious
abundance of Hindu temple building material scattered all over the province, it is difficult to pin-point the
provenance of each stray sculptured piece used in the mosques of Gaud and Hazrat Pandua. The existence

of any Hindu temple in the citadel or outside Gaud as ^ Abid ^ Ali tells us, is as difficult to prove as to
obviate the fact that no material was taken from Devikot or Bannagar in Dinajpur. Contradicting the views
of ^Abid ^Ali, Stapleton says, ^On the other hand from Manrique^s statement that in 1641, he saw
figures of idols standing in niches surrounded by carved grotesques and leaves in some stone reservoirs in
Gaur, it is possible that except during periods of persecution the Muhammadan Kings of Gaur allowed idols

and Hindu temples to remain unmolested in their capital. Although examples of the use of Hindu
material are not scarce, as proved by the discovery of three sculptured figures from Mahisantosh with
Muslim ornament on the reverse side, now in the Varendra Research Society Museum, it would be wrong
to say after Creighton that all the Hindu temples were desecrated by the Muslims to procure building

material^—

^The Indian Museum, Calcutta, as well as the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Museum, Calcutta, acquired a
large number of architectural objects from the ancient sites of Bengal, particularly. Gaud, Hazrat Pandua,
Bagerhat, Hughli, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and elsewhere. Besides freshly quarried basalts, a large quantity of
locally available building materials was employed by the architects of Gaud, Hazrat Pandua and elsewhere.

Ravenshaw^s unwarranted observation that ^Though it (Hazrat Pandua) cannot boast of such antiquity as
Gaud, its remains afford stronger evidence than those of the latter city of its having been constructed
mainly from the materials of Hindoo buildings^, has been brushed aside by Westmacott, who thinks that
Hazrat Pandua is older than Gaud. One of the strongest advocates of the Indianized form of Muslim
structures is Havell, who is too intolerant to allow any credit to the Muslim builders for the use of radiating
arches, domes, minarets, delicate relief works. He maintains that the central milirab of the Adina Masjid
(PI. Ill) at Hazrat Pandua is so obviously Hindu in design as hardly to require comments. While Havell

writes that ^The image of Vislvm orSurya has trefoil arched canopy, symbolizing the aura^ of the god, of

exactly the same type as the outer arch of the milirab, Beglar says that the Muslims delighted in ^placing
the sanctum of his orthodox cult (in this case the main prayer niche) on the spot, where hated infidel had his
sanctum^. Saraswati is even more emphatic on this point when he contends, ^ An examination of the

stones used in the construction of the Adina Masjid (one of them bearing a Sanscrit inscription, recording
merely a name of Indranath, in the character of the 9th century AD) and those lying about in heaps all
round, reveals the fact, which no careful observer can deny, that most of them came from temples that once

stood in the vicinity.^ Ilahi Bakhsh, Creighton, Ravenshaw, Buchanan-Hamilton, Westmacott, Beglar,
Cunnigham, King, and a host of other historians and archaeologists bear glowing testimony to the
utilization of non-muslim materials (Fig. 3b & PI. V), but none of them ventured to say that existing
temples were dismantled and materials provided for the construction of magnificent monuments in Gaud
and Hazrat Pandua.—

^►Creighton drew the sketches of a few Hindu sculptures which were evidently used in the Chhoto Sona
Masjid at Gaud. These are the image of Sivani, the consort of Siva, Varahaavatara or Vislmu in the form of
a Boar, Brahmani , consort of Brahma. In the British Museum there are a few images of Hindu and
Buddhist character, such as the Brahmani, sketched by Creighton, and the seated Buddha figure (Pis. XLI-
XLII). The Muslim builders out of sheer expediency felt no scruple to use these fragments in their mosques
by concealing the carved sides into the wall and utilizing the flat reverse side of these black basalts for
arabesque design in shallow carvings. Piecemeal utilization of Hindu sculptures were also to be seen in the
earlier monuments, such as, the Mosque and Tomb of Zafar Khan at Tribeni, the Mosque at Chhoto
Pandua, the Adina Masjid at Hazrat Pandua, etc. The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum,
both in London, the Indian Museum and the Bangiya Saliitya Parishad Museum, both at Calcutta, Varendra
Research Society Museum, Rajshahi, provide large specimens of carved stones and architectural fragments
used in the monuments of pre-Mughal Bengal. Ravenshaw photographed a circular stone pedestal and a
gargoyle, which is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Used obviously as the gargoyle in the Adina

Masjid, it ^consists of a modification of an elephant^s head with the eyes, horns and ears of
a sardula (elephant).^ Cunningham found in the pulpit of the Adina Masjid ^a line of Hindu sculpture of

very fine bold execution.^ Innumerable Hindu lintels, pillars, door-jambs, bases, capitals, friezes,
fragments of stone carvings, dadoes, etc., have been utilized in such a makeshift style as to render
^►improvisation^ well-nigh impossible. In many cases as observed in the Quwwat al-Islam at Delhi and
the Arhai-din-ka-Ihopra Mosque at Ajmer, pillars were inverted, joining the base with capitals, suiting
neither pattern nor size. Still there is no denying the fact that Hindu materials were utilized, yet it would be
far-fetched to say that existing Hindu temples were dismantled and converted by improvisation into
mosques as observed in the early phase of Muslim architecture in Indo-Pak sub-continent. The ritual needs
and structural properties of the Hindus and the Muslims are so diametrically opposite as to deter any
compromise and, therefore, the early Muslim conquerors of Bengal said their prayer in mosques built out of
the fragments of Hindu materials in the same way as their predecessors did at Delhi, Ajmer, Patan, Janupur,
Dhar and Mandu, and elsewhere. In the event [absence?] of any complete picture of pre-Muslim Hindu art
as practised in Gaud and Hazrat Pandua, it is an exaggeration to hold the view after Saraswati that

^►indeed, every structure of this royal city (Hazrat Pandua) discloses Hindu materials in its composition,
thus, disclosing that no earlier monument was spared. ^ —

^During the Husain Shahi period the stone cutter^s art was thoroughly practised and perfected, as
walls of gates and mosques were adorned with stone, either quarried from Rajmahal hills or obtained from
some existing buildings^ 1

❖ ❖The British Museum, London, has in its collection two sculptured pieces from Bengal, namely, the
seated Buddha figure (PI. XLIIa) and the image of Brahmani (PI. XLIa). Both these images have on their
obverse (Pis. XLIb, XLIIb) exquisitely carved diaper work of unmistakable Muslim workmanship. The
Indian Museum, Calcutta, has a stone slab carved on the one side with the image of Durga,
destroying Mahisha or Buffalow-demon, and on the reverse arabesque. The panel consisting of a scalloped
arch with a lotus rosette on each of its sides, surrounded by richly foliated devices, is undoubtedly a
Muslim work.—

^>The Muslim calligraphers did not feel any scruple to utilize fragments of Hindu or Jaina sculpture in
carving out beautiful inscriptions in elegantNaskh, Thulth and Tughra, keeping the images inside the

wall^—

Delhi

4>^>Delhi was the source of artistic inspiration for all the later provincial schools of Indo-Muslim
architecture. Codrington remarks, ^ At Delhi, the Kutb-ul-Islam marks the beginning of Islamic

architecture in India. ^ This formative phase of Mosque architecture in India began with the random
utilization of temple spoils, Hindu architraves, corbelled ceilings, kumbha pillars with hanging bell-and-
chain motifs, which were organised to fulfil the needs of congregational prayer. It is said that the columns
of twenty-seven Hindu and Jaina temples were utilized in the great Mosque, at Delhi, rightly called the

^ Might of Island. It was built by Qutb-al-Din Aybak in AH 587/AD 1191-92 on an ancient pre-Muslim
plinth.—

^Originally there were five domes in the liwan all compiled of Hindu fragments, as is evident from
their corbelled interiors^—

^Incidentally, it may be recalled that Beglar carried out excavations at the Quwat-al-Islam Mosque at
Old Delhi under the supervision of Cunningham and noticed the foundation of pre-Muslim temples
there

Ajmer (Rajasthan)

^^To Iletmish we owe some of the finest Muslim works in India. The Arhai din ka-Jhopra began by
Qutab al-Din in AD 1198-99, was also completed by him. Tod had said of it that it was ^>one of the most
perfect as well as the most ancient monuments of Hindu architecture^, on the evidence of certain four¬
armed figures to be seen on the pillars^ 1 —

^>The Ajmer Mosque resembles the Delhi Mosque in its use of pre-Muslim materials as well as in its
courtyard plan, arched screen, columnar/iwan and riwags and use of reconstructed Hindu corbelled domes.
Ah these features, except the fragments of Hindu and Jain carvings used in the work are essentially Islamic.

The Ajmer Mosque indicates a further improvement in Mosque design^ As Sardar puts it, ^These pillars
have a greater height than those at the Kutub, and are more elegant in their sculpture and general
appearance than the converted Mosques in Malwa and Ahmedabad. ^ 4>—

Badaun (Uttar Pradesh)

^>The Jami Masjid of Badaun, also built by Iletmish is one of the largest mosques in India. Following the
traditional courtyard plan, it also utilizes Hindu temple pillars. The entrance arches of the gateways leading

into the courtyard of the Mosque presumably recall those in the great Mosques at Delhi and Ajmer^^

Bay ana (Rajasthan)

^That the practice of utilizing the spoils of Hindu temples continued throughout the reign of Sultan
Iletmish is proved by the Mosque of Ukha in Bayana (Uttar Pradesh), which is also on the site of a Hindu
templet

Dhar (Madhya Pradesh)

^The oldest of the Mosques in Malwa is the Kamal Maula Masjid which was built in Dhar in AH 803/AD
1400. Both this Mosque and the slightly later Jami or Lat Masjid are clearly adaptations of ruined Hindu
temple material^^

Mandu (Madhya Pradesh)

^The transfer of the capital from Dhar to Mandu by Dilwar Khan in AH 794/AD 1392, marks a new phase
in the development of Mosque architecture in Malwa. The Mosque built by him in C. AH 808/AD 1405-06
is oblong in ground plan, the western side being formed by the liwan. Its roof is supported by Hindu

pillars^

Gujarat

^Mt is true that Mosque architecture in Gujarat only began in the 14th century. When ^ Ala-al-Din Khalji
conquered and annexed the country to the Delhi Sultanate in the later part of the 13th century, there still
flourished a singularly beautiful indigenous style of architecture. The early monuments of Gujarat, notably
at Patan (Anhilvada) tell the same story of the demolition of local temples and the reconstruction of their

fragments^—

❖ ❖in the beginning, at the Qutb, the Hindu element was confined architecturally to the trabeate
constructive methods, and to part of the decoration, Islam contributing the plan and the embellishment of
the Arabic lettering. In Gujarat, notably in the entrance porches of the Jami ❖ Masjid at Cambay, much
may fairly be described as literal reconstruction of Hindu work, as units in the established plan of a Muslim
place of worship. These entrances have their parallels in the pavilions and mandapas of Hindu and Jaina

temples still standing, for instance, at Modhera and Mount Abu^^ —

Patan (Gujarat)

❖The earliest recorded building in Gujarat is the Adina Masjid at Patan (Anhilvada), as stated above. This
bears the same unusual name as that of the Mosque built by Sikandar Shah at Hazrat Pandua about fifty
years later. The tomb of Sheikh Farid and the Adina Masjid at Patan, which are dated C. AH 700/AD 1300,
correspond in their utilization of Hindu building material with the tomb and the Mosque of Zafar

Khan Ghazi at Tribeni in Hooghly, Bengal, which are dated C. AH 705/ AD 1305. The now demolished
Adina Masjid at Patan, is said to have had one thousand and fifty pillars of marble and other stones taken

from destroyed temples. Erected by Ulugh Khan, ❖Ala^-al-Din Khalji^s Governor, it measures 400 feet
by 300 feet ❖ ❖—

Bharuch (Gujarat)

❖ ❖ Unlike the Patan Mosque, the Jami ❖ Masjid of Bharoch, which is also dated C. AH 700/AD 1300 is a
new creation. Although it does incorporate Hindu pillars, it is built on the usual Mosque plan with which
we are familiar in earlier works. The brackets of the incorporated pillars and the carved interior of the
corbelled domes are particularly fine. They, of course, necessarily recall the much earlier work of the
Quwwat al-Islam at Delhi. It is important to realize that these primitive methods were still being used in the

Indian provinces two hundred years after they were fully developed at Delhi ❖❖ —

Khambhat (Gujarat)

❖ ❖The Mosque of Cambay demonstrates the imposition of Khalji features, such as the arched screen of
the Jama &at Khana Masjid at th eDargah of Nizam-al-Din Aulia in Delhi, upon the local trabeate forms of

Gujarat Hindu architecture. Codrington writes, ❖The Jami ❖ Masjid at Cambay was finished in 1325, and
is typical of these earlier buildings. It has all the appurtenances that Islam demands-cloisters, open court¬
yard, the covered place for prayer, mimbar and mihrab- but only the west end is in any sense Islamic. As at
Delhi and Ajmir, the pillars of the cloisters, and notably the entrance porches as a whole, are the relics of

sacked Hindu shrines ❖❖—

Deccan

❖Like all other provinces of India, the Deccan, also, witnessed the growth of a distinguished school of
Muslim architecture. Its early phase is also, characterized by the adaptation of local temples, for the
purpose of Muslim congregational prayer, as exemplified by the Deval Mosque of Bodhan in Nizamabad,

near Hyderabad, dated AD 1318, which was formerly a Hindu shrined ❖ !

Bodhan (Maharashtra)

❖ ❖It is said that the star-shaped Jaina Temple built in the Chalukya style at Bodhan in the 9th or 10th
century was, also, transformed into a Mosque during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq (AH 726-52/AD
1325-51). ❖—

Daulatabad (Maharashtra)

❖The Mosque of Qutb al-Din Mubarak Khalji at Daulatabad, dated AH 718/AD 1318, is probably the
earliest surviving Muslim structure in the Deccan. It is a square, 260 feet each way, assembled into the

usual orthodox plan out of destroyed Hindu pillars, brackets, and beams

Pandua (Bengal)

^Beglar traces the origin of the Adina Masjid to pre-Muslim sources^ He bases his arguments on the
point that if the Adina Masjid occupies the site of a pre-Muslim Hindu temple, the name may be a
reminiscent of Adisur, the so-called founder of the hitherto unidentified temple dating from the 7th century
AD; however, he does not know that there is a mosque at Patan, called Adina, and that it is a Persian term
for Friday. The use of fragments of Hindu or Buddhist architectural works in the Masjid do [does?] not

prove that the site was pre-Muslim. They may have been brought there

^►■^Beglar suggests that the mihrab of the Adina Masjid was transferred from a Hindu temple. He says,
fb Of the Hindu sculpture, the most striking and superb is beyond question the trefoil arch and pillars of the

main prayer niche. ^ But there are no grounds for his assertion. The Adina Masjid mihrab, forming a
single work of art, must be accepted as contemporary with the fabric of the Masjid itself. But it must be
admitted that the style is local

^Particular attention has been drawn to the curiously interesting designs of the archivolt of the niche. The

conventional grotesque Lion^s head at the crown and the Kinnara and Kinnari at the haunches, which
appear in the lintel of the Vaishnava temple from Gaud, according to many scholars have been transformed
into graceful foliage, palmette and sensuous tendrils^ —

^The discovery of an odd fragment of Hindu sculpture found built into the steps of the staircase has led

many scholars to ascribe a pre-Muslim origin to the Adina Masjid. As Cunningham puts it, ^>The steps
leading up to the pulpit have fallen down, and, on turning over one of the steps I found a line of Hindu
sculpture of very fine and bold execution^ The main ornament is a line of circular panels^ formed by
continuous intersecting lotus stalks. These are five complete panels, and two half-panels which have been
cut through. These two contain portions of an elephant and a rhinoceros. In the complete panels are: (i) cow
and a calf; (ii) human figures broken; (iii) a goose; (iv) a man and woman and a crocodile; (v) two

elephants. The carving is deep and the whole has been polished.^ This sculpture is still visible. It is,
therefore, clear that the exigencies of the circumstances led to the utilization of some Hindu materials
available on the site. Nevertheless, such mutilated fragments hardly testify to the fact that the Adina Masjid
was built on the ruins of an ancient Indian temple.—

^The western wall of the northern prayer hall is pierced by two openings on either side of die zenana
gallery, which reduce the number of niches (Fig. 3) between the pilaster of the back walls from the 16
found in the southern prayer hall to 14. These postern gateways (Figs. 3, 9, & Pis. IV, V), are built out of
elements of Hindu door frames and, therefore, are unusual features, rarely found in Indian Mosques. It is
hard to believe that they were provided for the use of the general worshippers. Probably they were for the
use of the attendants, palanquin-bearers and entourage of the King and his ladies, who entered the Mosque

through the adjoining Ladies^ vestibule.—

^However, there is one exception shown in the northern hall, which differs from the other semi-circular
niches. Here the trefoil arch corresponds generally with that of the central mihrabs. The arch itself has a
superimposed ribbed roof, recalling Hindu architecture. The face of the trefoil is decorated with a lotus and

diamond band, the pilasters on either side having kumbha bases and looped garlands on their shafts. All
these details are different from the rest of the decorative motifs in the Adina Masjid. But there are no
grounds for the suggestion that the work is Hindu or that it is built up of fragments of a destroyed Hindu
temple. The space between the pilasters of this mihrab and the stone-face of the brick wall is filled with
fragmentary remains of Hindu sculpture.—

❖ ❖The two postern gateways and the two doors are already mentioned. Beglar pointed out that the door
frames of all these four door ways are built up of fragments from some other buildings. He identifies the
work as being Hindu but admits that he does not know any local source from their fragments. The work is
more or less of the same kind as that to be seen in the postern gate. In all these doorways various Indian
motifs attracts undivided attention. These include pot and foliage, pilasters, door guardians and the
intertwined nagas on the lintel. The utilization of non-Muslim materials in the Adina Masjid as well as in
later Mosques in Gaud and Hazrat Pandua is supported by two fragments in the British Museum. They are
cut in basalt and the first shows finely cut Muslim diaper work on one side and the figure of Buddha on the
other (Pis. XLII, a-b). Another fragment has the image of probably the goddess Brahmani on the other side
(Pis. XLI, a-b). The work indicates that these fragments came from Gaud or Hazrat Pandua.—

❖ ❖The entrance gateway to the Minar at Chhoto Pandua as well as that of the Eklakhi Mausoleum at
Hazrat Pandua (PI. XVI) provide parallels for zenana gatways. The floor of the zenana gallery with its worn
basalt paving slabs is supported by the squat pillars of the prayer hall below. These support bays roofed by
a corbelled construction of plain slabs placed across the corners of the bays. At earlier mosques, such as the
Quwwat al-Islam, internal domes constructed in this way were removed from Hindu temples. Here the old

Indian method is still utilized with fresh material^ !

❖ A curiously interesting feature of the Adina Masjid is the square structure, adjoining the outer wall of
the qibla on the northern side of the central mihrab. It communicates with the zenana gallery by lintellect
doorways, formed by Hindu doorjambs as stated earlier. According to Beglar it measures externally 54 feet

by 48 feet, whereas ❖ Abid ❖ Ali notes that this roofless annexe is 42 feet square. It stands on a very high

plinth, raising the floor to the level of the ladies ❖ gallery. The plinth is built of random rubble work with
conventionalised Buddhist railing ornament resembling those in the dadoes of the qibla wall of the

440

mosque.—

❖The real character as well as the distinguishing features of the Adina Masjid have yet to be determined.

In the present crumbling state of this one-time ❖ wonder of the worlds, as Cunningham calls it, it is well
nigh impossible to say whether this magnificent mosque occupies the site of any Hindu or Buddhist temple.
A group of scholars failed to see in the impressive Adina Masjid anything more than a mere assemblage of
Hindu or Buddhist fragments, arranged skilfully to adhere to a mosque plan. Ilahi Bakhsh started the

controversy when he wrote, ^Ht is worth observing that in front of the chaukath (lintel) of the Adina
Masjid, there was a broken and polished idol, and that there were other idols lying about. So it appears that,
in fact, this mosque was originally an idol-temple. ❖ Beglar steps up this controversy by saying, ❖ the
Adina Masjid occupies the site, of a once famous, or at least a most important, and highly ornamented, pre-
Muhammadan shrined; he depends for his arguments on a Proto-Bengali inscription (Fig. 4b) discovered
in the building which bears the name of Brahma. Saraswati seems to have carried the thesis too far when he
writes, ❖an examination of the stones used in the construction of the Adina Mosque (one of them bearing a
Sanskrit inscription recording merely a name, Indranath, in character of the 9th century) and those lying
about in heaps all around, reveals the fact, which no careful observer can deny, that most of them came

from temples that once stood in the vicinity.❖ Beglar even went so far as to pin-point ❖the sanctum of the
temple, judging from the remnants of heavy pedestals of statues, now built into the pulpit, and the superb

canopied trefoils, now doing duty as prayer niches, stood where the main prayer niche now stands; nothing
would probably so tickle the fancy of a bigot, as the power of placing the sanctum of his orthodox cult (in

this case the main prayer niche) on the spot, where hated infidel had his sanctumd. The existence of the
foundation of a Hindu Temple in the Adina Masjid is as far-fetched as to consider the circular pedestal to
the west of the qibla wall as remains of a Buddhist stupa (Fig. 3). It may be the base of a detached minar, as

similar examples are to be seen in the mosques of Egypt, Persia and Indiad d

Tribeni (Bengal)

dThe existing tomb and mosque of Zafar Khan Ghazi at Tribeni is another example of contemporary
Hindu fragments being utilized in Muslim structured -

dThe Mosque of Zafar Khan Ghazi is the earliest known example of Mosque architecture in Bengal, and

dis certainly the oldest in Bengal far anterior to any building at Gaud and Hazrat Panduad. Marking the
earliest phase of Muslim building activities, it incorporates fragments of non-Muslim monuments, like
those of the Quwwat al-Islam Mosque in Delhi. R.D. Banerjee is of opinion that dthe Mosque of Tribeni
was most probably a Vaishnava temple but relics of Buddhism and Jainism were found dd

dd Unmistakable Hindu workmanship is evident in the mutilated figures in some of the architectural
fragments used — a phenomenon to be observed in the Adina Masjid at Hazrat Pandua, dated AH 776/AD
1374. There are five mihrabs in the qibla wall, the most striking being the central one. Tastefully carved

multifoil brick arch of the central mihrab is supported by slender stone pillars of some Hindu templed—

ddThe utilization of non-Muslim building materials is to be taken as a matter of expediency for no
mosque plan was ever superimposed on the traditional ground plan of temple architecture. In the light of
this phenomena the mosques can hardly be regarded as mere improvisations of existing temples, as stated
by R.D. Banerjee in the case of the Mosque of Zafar Khan. The Muslim architects did not feel any scruple
to employ fragments of Hindu sculpture still bearing traces of iconographical art in their mosques, and
furthermore Hindu workmanship is evident in the delicate stone carvings and sensuous tendrils, and

corbelled domes, d—

Gaud (Bengal)

ddBoth Cunningham and Marshall accept Creightonds suggestion that the Lattan Masjid was built in
the year AH 880/AD 1475 d—

dThe qibla wall has three semi-circular niches, the central one being bigger than the side ones. These are
all encrusted with glazed tiles. Themihrab to the north of the central niche has fragments of Hindu
sculpture built into itd —

dd Although less ornate than those of the southern prayer chamber in the Adina Masjid, the Tantipara
Masjid pillars have square bases, moulded bands and cubical abaci. Brown says that the pillars of this
mosque are dof the square and chamfered variety originally part of a Hindu templed, but this was not so.

They are contemporary with the building. Certainly work of this character is known in Hindu building, and
this seems to have misled Brown.—

4>^Two rows of chamfered pillars, each carrying 5 pointed arches, divide the interior of the [Chhoto
Sona] Mosque into 3 longitudinal aisles. In each row there are 4 pillars of black basalt which in their
moulded string-courses, cubical pedestal, dog-tooth ornament and square abacus recall those of the
supporting pillars of the zenana gallery in the Adina Masjid. Evidently they are much more attenuated in
shape in the Chhoto Sona Masjid than those in the Adina Masjid. It is hard to ascertain their origins, but
considering the enormous quantity of Hindu spoil used in the Chhoto Sona Masjid (Pis. XLI, XLII) and
comparing its pillars with the carved stone pillars at the Bari Dargah which originally must have been
brought from the Adina Masjid it may be said that they were taken from unidentifiable Hindu temples. —

^>Many of the stones used for casing the wall to give the illusion of a stone monument from distance are
evidently Hindu. To quote Creighton, ^The stone used in these mosques had formerly belonged to Hindu
temples destroyed by the zealous Muhammadans,^ as will be evident from an inspection of Plates XLI

and XLII, representing two slabs taken from this Building. Creighton ^>s painting XVI represents a stone
with the image of the Hindu deity, Vishnu , in the Boar incarnation, with shallow diaper carving on the
reverse side. The figure of Sivani, the consort of Siva, one of the Hindu triad, appears on another stone
sketched by Creighton (painting XVII). The mother figure evidently drawn from sculptured stones used in

the Small Golden Mosque is that of Brahmani, given in Plate XLIa (Creighton ^>s painting XVII). It is very
interesting to point out in connection with the figure of Brahmani that it agrees in meticulous execution of
details and perfection of style with that of the British Museum piece. Therefore, it is certain that Creighton
drew his sketch from this black stone which curiously displays diaper work on the other side (PI. XLIb)

similar to that of Creighton ^s Plate XVI. Arabesque design in shallow stone carving, resembling delicate
tapestry, appears also in another superb black basalt piece, shown in Plate XLIb, now in the British
Museum. It has the image of a seated Buddha on one side thereby again indicating the utilization of non-
Muslim material (PI. XLIIa). This fascinating piece may well be attributed to the Chhoto Sona Masjid on
the grounds of the close similarity of its diaper work with that of the stone sketched by Creighton in his

Plate XVI, and of the existence of gilding in the shallow carvings of the diaper work.^>

Rampal (Bengal)

^>The famous Mosque of Baba Adam, (Pig. 17) the patron saint of the locality in the ancient Hindu site of
Rampal where Raja Ballal Sena built his palace in the district of Dacca is an impressive architectural
monument of pre-Mughal Bengal.—

^ ^Measuring 43 feet by 36 feet externally and 34 feet by 22 feet internally, the Mosque incorporated a
number of beautifully carved stone pillars of unmistakable Hindu workmanship^

^In the construction of this 6-domed mosque, measuring 36 feet by 24 feet, considerable amount of
locally available materials from dilapidated Hindu monuments were employed as evident in the black
carved basalts of the pillars, mihrabs, epigraphic slabs, etc^

Chhota Pandua (Bengal)

^■^Next to Satgaon^, writes D.G. Crawford, ^Pandua is the oldest place of Hughli District-once the
capital of a Hindu Raja and is famous as the site of a great victory gained by the Musulmans under Shah
Safi over the Hindus in about AD 1340.^ Besides the Mosque and Tomb of Shah Safiuddin, the most

outstanding architectural project of great magnitude is the Great Mosque at Chhoto Pandua^ O^Malley
and M.M. Chakravarti differ from Blockmann in ascribing Buddhist origin to these pillars and maintain that
they were probably quarried from a Hindu temple. As put forward by Cunningham, ^The Mosque stands
on a mound once die site of a Hindu temple, the pillars of which now support this mean-looking barn-like
Masjid. ^ It would be far-fetched to maintain that the Great Mosque at Chhoto Pandua was built on the
very foundation of a Hindu temple, like the improvised Tomb of Zafar Khan Ghazi at Tribeni, dated 14th
century AD.

Sadipur (Bengal)

❖ ♦A ,K. Bhattacharya points out that an inscription in Arabic, carved inTuglrra is found on the reverse of
an image of Adinath, which is recovered from a ruined Dargah in the village Sadipur, P.S. Kaliachak,
Malda.^—

Footnotes:

1 The language which is uniformly used by Muslim writers in describing the slaughter of people,
destruction of cities and towns, and enslavement of the conquered men, women and children, has
to be read in the original Arabic or Persian in order to realize that the writers themselves must
have been bloodthirsty thugs masquerading as theologi ans, poets and historians. Amir Khusru and

Ziair^d-Din Barani, the two distinguished disciples of Nizamu^d-Din Auliya^, excel them all
in the respect. The Urdu translations retain some of the flavour which is lost in translations in
other languages. Urdu is truly an Islamic language.

= Cited by Abdur Rahman, The Last Two Dynasties of the Shahis, Delhi Reprint, 1988, pp. 55-56
-Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 413-14.

- Kitab Futuh Al-Buldan of al-Biladhuri, translated into English by F.C. Murgotte, Columbia
University, New York, 1924, p. 707.

- Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 120-21.

- Ibid., pp. 122-23.

- Ibid., p. 127. ^ Budd in Islamic parlance means an idol. The word is derived from

Buddha ft whose idols were known as Budd or But in Iran long before the Muslims conquered
that land. The Muslims borrowed the word and extended it to mean all idols. The Iranian text
of Bundahism translated by H.W. Bailey says that ^The demon But is that which they worship in

India and in his image a spirit is resident which is worshipped as Bodasf ^ (Indian Studies,
Volume in Honour of Edward James Rapson, edited by J. Bloch et al., London , 1931, Delhi
Reprint, 1988, p. 279). Bodasf is Persian for Bodhisattva.

— Major David Price, Mahommedan History, London. 1811. New Delhi Reprint, 1984, Vol. I. pp.
467-68.

— Ibid., pp. 474-75.

— Abdur Rahman, op. cit., p. 102.

— Ibid., pp. 103-04.

— Ibid., p. 104.

— The ancient name of Multan was Mulasthana and the Sun God was probably named
accordingly.

— Hindus under the leadership of the Gurjara-Pratihara rulers of Kanauj.

— The Muslim occupants of Multan.

— Elliot and Dowson. op. cit., Vol. I. p. 23.

— A Shi^ah Muslim sect.

— E.C. Sachau (tr.), Alberuni &s India, New Delhi Reprint, 1983, p. 116.

— Ibid., p. 117.

— Ibid., pp. 102-03.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 22.

22 This is one of the names by which Muslims mean Hindus.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit, Vol. II, p. 36.

— Ibid., p. 37.

— Ibid., p. 39. According to Firishta the temple in which the inscription was found was destroyed.

— Ibid., p. 40.

— Ibid., p. 40-41.

— Ibid., p. 44.

— Ibid., pp. 44-45. The conspicuous temple referred to in this passage was most probably that of
Ke^avadeva, predecessor of those destroyed by latter-day Islamic icono clasts, the latest by
Aurangzeb.

22 Ibid., p. 46.

-Ibid. Vol. IV, pp. 518-19.

32 Ibid., pp. 520-21.

31 Ibid., p, 524.

-Ibid. Vol. I,p. 158.

— Ibid., p. 164.

— The Chachnamah, translated into English by Mirza Kalichbeg Fredunbeg. Delhi Reprint, 1979,
pp. 179-80.

— This man was most probably the Brahmana who led Muhammad bin Qasim to the temple
treasure. He had accepted Islam simply because its arms were victorious.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. I. pp. 205-06.

— Ibid., p. 21.

-Ibid., Vol. II, p. 172.

— Ibid., p. 215.

— Ibid., p. 216-17.

— Ibid., p. 219.

— Ibid., p. 223.

— Ibid., p. 222.

— Ibid., p. 219.

— Ibid., p. 224. Kol was the old name of Aligarh.

— Ibid., p. 226. Thangar or Tahangarh is the name of the Fort near Bayana.

— Ibid., p. 231.

32 Ibid., pp. 238-39.

31 Ibid., p. 246.

32 Ibid., p. 469.

33 Ibid., pp. 469-70.

— Ibid., p. 471.

Ibid., p. 398.

— Tahqat-i-Nasiri, translated into English by Major H.G. Reverty, New Delhi Reprint, 1970, Vol.
I, pp. 81-82.

— Ibid., p. 88, footnote 2.

51 Ibid., pp. 621-22.

52 Ibid., pp. 622-23.

— Ibid., p. 628.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 97-98.

— Ibid., p. 470.

-Ibid., Vol. II, p. 252.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included inKhalji Kalina Bharata, Aligarh,
1955, pp. 153-54.

— Elliot and Dowson, up. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 542.

— Ibid., p. 543.

^ Ibid.

— The reference is to the tower known as Qutb Minar at present.

Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included inKhalji Kalina Bharata, Aligarh,
1955, pp. 156-57. The last sentence means that the temples were first made to topple and then
levelled with the ground.

22 Ibid., p. 159.

— Quoted by Jagdish Narayan Sarkar, The Art of War in Medieval India, New Delhi, 1964, pp.
286-87.

— S. A. A. Rizvi, op. cit., p. 160. Bahirdev arms to be Bhairavadeva.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit. Vol. Ill, p. 81.

— ^>Gabr^> was a term which the Muslims used for the Zoroastrians to start with. Later on, the
term was sometimes extended to mean the Hindus as well.

25 Ibid., pp 82-83.

— Ibid., p. 85.

22 Ibid., pp. 90-91. The Hindi translation by S.A.A. Rizvi says that temples at Birdhul touched the
sky with their tapes, and reached the nether world in their foundations, but they were dug up
( Khalji Kalina Bharata, p. 169).

— Ibid., p. 91.

— Ibid., pp. 550-51. Other histories identify this place as Birdhul, the PaNDya capital. Capitals and
seaports were often called pattcinain ancient India. This was not the only instance of Muslims
employed by Hindu rulers deserting to Islamic invaders. Muslims have always placed their loyalty
to Islam above loyalty to the employer whose salt they have eaten, sometimes for many years.

— Mohammad Wahid Mirza, The Life and Works of Amir Khusrau{\935), Delhi Re -Print 1974.
pp. 183-84.

— Elliot Dowson, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 559.

— Cited in P.M. Currie, The Shrine and Cult of Mu &in al-Din Chishti of Ajmer, OUP, 1989, p. 30.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. Ill, pp. 43-44.

— Ibid., p. 65.

— Hindu temples were often called ^fire temples^ by Muslim writers as Hindus were often

described as ^►fire-worshippers^ or ^►gabrs^. The appellations were transferred from the
Zoroastrian temples and the Zoroastrian people.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Tughlaq Kalina Bhdrata, Aligarb,
1956, Vol. I, p. 325.

— Ibid., p. 327. The saints, sages, scholars and Brahmin priests of the Hindus were re garded as
^►magicians ^ by the theologians of Islam.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Klialji Kalina Bhdrata, Aligarh,
1955, p. 206.

— The figures were defaced. That is how Islamic iconoclasts spent some of their fury against
^►false gods^U

— The Rehald oflbn Battuta translated into English by Mahdi Hussain, Baroda, 1967, p. 10. It
shows how local legends grew about a whole city destroyed by Muslim invad ers during one of
their invasions of Sindh. This was moss probably the site of Debal.

— Ibid., p. 27.

— Ibid., pp. 203AM. The ^ westerner^ was a Muslim missionary from North Africa which is
known as Maghrib (the West) among the Arabs. See Thor Heyerdahl, The Maidive Mystery,
Bethesda (Maryland, USA), 1986, for the large number of Hindu temples destroyed. Many
mosques stand on their sites now.

— Elliot and Dowson. Vol. Ill, p. 146.

— Ibid., p. 148. The last line according to S.A.A. Rizvi should be translated as ^so that people
may be educated^ ( Khalji Kalina Bharata. p. 29), and as ^>for the fun of the peopled according
to Dr. Mu^in-ul-Haq (Urdu translation of Barani. Lahore, 1983, p. 335).

— Ibid., p. 163. Dr. Mu^in-ul-Haq translate it as ^for the fun of the people,^ (Ibid., p. 377), but
S.A.A. Rizvi agrees with Elliotts translation.

— Ibid., p. 204.

— Ibid., p. 313. Banarsi is the name of Cuttack which was known as Kataka-VaraNasi to the
Hindus of medieval India.

-Ibid., p. 314.

— Ibid., p. 318. Hindus had to spread such ^lies^ in order to save their temples from demolition
and their idols from desecration by succeeding sultans and swordsmen of Islam.

— Ibid., p. 365. Zunar or Zunnar is the Muslim term for the sacred thread worn by the
BrahmaNas who were accordingly called Zundr-ddrs.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Tughlaq Kalina Bharata,
Aligarh, 1957, Vol. II, p. 380.

m Ibid., p. 381.

121 Ibid., p. 382.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. Ill, pp. 376-77. This translation does not mention ^idol-

temples had been demolished.^ This qualification of the ^former sovereigns^, however, is
mentioned in the Hindi translation by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Tughlaq Kalina Bharata, Aligarh,
1957, Vol. H, p. 328.

— It was probably Malza or Malcha where, according to Shams Siraj, Sultan Firuz had built a
dam. This place is near the Kalka Temple in the area of Okhla (S.A.A. Rizvi, Tuqhlaq Kalina
Bharata, Vol. II, p. 333, footnote 1).

— Elliot and Dowson. op. cit., Vol. Ill, pp. 380-81. The apologists of Islam tell us that zimmis are
guaranteed freedom of worship once they agree to pay jijyah. Here we have a most pious sultan
saying and acting otherwise.

m Ibid., p. 381.

— Quoted in R.C. Majumdar (ed.), op. cit., Vol. VI, The Delhi Sultanate, Bombay, 960, p. 94.

— Quoted in Ibid., pp. 105-60.

— Translated from the Urdu version by Dr. Aftab Asghar, second edition, Lahore. 1982.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Khalit Kalina Bharata, Aligarh,
1955, p. 223.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Tughlaq Kalina Bharata,
Aligarh, 1957, Vol. II, pp. 228-29.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Uttara Taimur Kalina Bharata,
Aligarh, 1959, Vol. II, p. 27.

— Ibid.,pp. 27-28.

— Ibid.,p. 29.

— Summarised by S.A.A. Rizvi in History of Sufism in India, New Delhi, 1978, Vol. I, pp. 201-
202, footnote 4. Tabriz! is most probably the hero of Sekasubhodaya, a San skrit work ascribed to

Halayudha Mi^ra, discovered at Gaur in Bengal and edited with an English translation by
Sukumar Sen, Calcutta, 1963.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 166.

— Ibid., pp. 182-83.

— Ibid.,pp. 178-79.

— Ibid., pp. 179-80. The number of temples mentioned in this passage means the number of
temples destroyed.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Mughal Kalina Bharata: Babur,
Aligarh, 1960, p. 233.

— Ibid., 237.

— Ibid., p. 167. Professor Sri Ram Sharma cites from Tarikh-i-Baburi that ^His Sadr, Shaikh

Zain, demolished many Hindu temples at Chanderi when he occupied it^ (Religious Policy of the
Mughal Emperors, p. 9).

— Ibid., p. 277. It seems that for some reason, the statues could not be destroyed, though they
were mutilated. All of them are Jain statues.

— Summarised by S.A.A. Rizvi in his. A History of Sufism in India. Vol. I, New Delhi, 1978, pp.
201 - 02 .

1 ^Summarised by Ibid., p. 307.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included mUttara Taimur Kalina Bharata,
Aligarh, 1955, Vol. I, p. 322.

— Eliot and Dowson, op. cit, Vol. IV, pp. 403-04.
m Ibid., p. 544.

— Translated Iron the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included inUttara Taimur Kalina Bharata,
Aligarh, 1958, Vol. I, p. 102.

— Ibid., Vol. II. 138. Ghiyasu^d-Din had collected 16,000 women in his harem and was
notorious for his lewdness. Piety in Islam has no relation with personal character. Lechers can
serve the faith as well as the recluse.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 471.

— The reference is to some Hindu Goddess. Islamic iconoclasts often named Hindu Goddesses
after those of Arabia whose idols the prophet of Islam had destroyed.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A. A. Rizvi included in Tughlaq Kalina Bharata.
Aligarh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 370.

— The Tabqat-i-Akbari translated by B. De, Calcutta, 1973, Vol. I, p. 3.
m Ibid., p. 7.

— Ibid.,p. 11.

— Ibid.,p. 16.

— Ibid., p. 22.

— Ibid.,p. 51.

— Ibid.,pp. 68-69.

— Ibid.,p. 144.

— Ibid., p. 157.

— Ibid., p. 184.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Tughlaq Kalina Bharata,
Aligarh, 1957. Vol. II, p. 349.

— Ibid.,p. 350.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Uttara Taimur Kalina Bharata,
Aligarb, 1958. Vol. I, p. 219.

m Ibid., p. 220.

Ibid., p. 221.

151

1 Ibid., p. 222.

1 Ibid., p. 227.

— Ibid., pp, 236-37. The bull was most probably a Nandi standing outside a temple of 4>iva.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Uttar Taimur Kalina Bharata ,
Aligarh 1959, Vol. II. p. 9.

155 Ibid., p. 74.
m Ibid., p. 75.
m Ibid., p. 85.
— Ibid., p. 86.

— Ibid., pp. 177-78. Zafar Khan crowned himself as Muzaffar Shah a few years later, and
founded the independent kingdom of Gujarat.

— Ibid.,p. 180.
m Ibid., p. 178.

— Ibid., p. 180.
m Ibid., p. 192.

— Ibid.,pp. 201-02.

— Ibid.,pp. 206-07.

— Ibid., p. 214.

— Ibid.,p. 218-19.

— Ibid.,pp. 233-34.

— Ibid., p. 515. The discovery of an inscription
wishful and fictitious.

— Ibid., p. 517.

— Ibid., p. 527.

Elliot and Dowson, op. cab, Vol. V, p. 358.

seems to be true, but the reading is obviously

173

— Muntakhabu 4h -Tawarikli, translated into English by George S.A. Ranking, Patna Reprint
1973, Vol. I,p. 17.

— Ibid., pp. 27-28.

— Ibid.,pp. 21-22.
m Ibid., p. 24.

m Ibid., pp. 82-83.
m Ibid., p. 95.

— Ibid., pp. 235-36.

— Ibid., pp. 255-56.

— Ibid.,p. 420.

— Ibid., p. 422.

— Ibid.,pp. 432-33.

— Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 128-29.

— Ibid.,pp. 165-66.

— Ibid., pp. 166-67.

— Elliot and Dowson. op. cit, Vol. VI, p. 528.
m Ibid., Vol. IV, p.439.

— Ibid.,p. 447.

— Ibid., p. 465.
m Ibid., p. 466.

— Ibid.,pp. 466-67.

— Cited by Sri Ram Sharma, op. cit., p. 11.

— Zafaru &l Walih Bi Muzajfar Wa Alihi, translated into English by M.F. Lokhand wala, Baroda,
1970 and 1974, Vol. II, p. 575.

m Ibid., p. 626.

— Ibid.,pp. 627-28.

— Ibid., Vol. I, p. 138.

Ibid., Vol. II. pp. 646-47.

— Ibid., p. — Ibid., Vol. I, p. 139. Malabar in wrongly indicated by the translator.

— Ibid., Vol. II, p. 676. This is a revealing report. The Sufis were not only instigators but also
beneficiaries of jihad and iconoclasm.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi included in Uttara Taimur Kcilina Bharata,
Aligarh, 1959, Vol. II, p. 413.

204

Ibid., p. 417.

— Ibid., p. 418.

— Elliot and Dowson, op.cit., Vol. VI, p. 187.

— Tarikh-i-Haqqi (of which Zubdatu &t-Tawdrikh is an extension) cited by Sri Ram Sharma, op.
cit., p. 62.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 435-36.

— Tdrikh-i-Firishta, translated by John Briggs under the titleHistory of the Rise of the
Mahomedan Power in India , first published in 1829, New Delhi Reprint 1981, Vol. I, pp. 27-28.

— Ibid., p. 29.

— Ibid., p. 30.
m Ibid., p. 34.

— Ibid., p. 35.

— Ibid., p. 36. Mahmud was a pious Muslim who destroyed Hindu temples and idols in keeping
with the tenets of Islam. Those who present him as a freebooter out to plun der temple treasuries
are either fools like Jawaharlal Nehru or knaves like Mohammad Habib, and Pandit Sunderlal.
Mahmud is too great an hero of Islam to be sacrificed in order to salvage the faith.

— Ibid., p. 37.

— Translated from the Urdu version of Tdrikh-i-Firishta by ^ Abdul Hat Khwajah, Deoband,
1983, pt. I,p. 125.

— John Briggs, op. cit., pp. 38-39.

— Ibid., pp. 40-41. Lure of plunder as well as religious merit made many Muslims join the army
without pay. Islam like Christianity enables people to make the best of the both the worlds.

— Ibid., pp. 41-42.

— Other accounts put the figure at 50,000.

221

Ibid., pp. 43-44.

— Ibid., p. 49.
m Ibid., p. 63.

— Ibid.,p. 82.

— Ibid.,pp. 100-01.
m Ibid., p. 108.

m Ibid., P. 119.

— Ibid., p. 170.

— Ibid., p. 171.

^ Abdul Hai Khwajah, op. cit, pt. I, p. 349. It appears to be the ^ivalinga of the
Rudramahalaya at Sidhpur.

231

John Briggs, op. cit., pp. 213-14. Modern historians doubt if Malik Kafur reached Setubandha
Rame^varam.

Ibid., p. 263. The word ^ templet at the end of the passage stands for the Ka^ba.

— Ibid., p. 338.

■ Ibid., p. 339.

’ Ibid., pp. 339-40.

! Ibid., p. 343.

Ibid., pp. 347-48.

215 Ibid., Vol. II, p. 206-07.

m Ibid., p. 248.

— Ibid.,p. 251.

— Ibid.,p. 269.

; Ibid., p. 306.

■ Ibid., p. 308.

1 Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 82.

Ibid., p. 84.

— Ibid., p. 212.

— Ibid., p. 267. Murahari Rao was obviously a precursor of our present-day devotees Secularism
who are Hindus by accident of birth and who stop at nothing in order to please the Muslims.

m Ibid., p. 274.

— Ibid.,pp. 276-77.

— Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 3.

— Ibid., p. 4.

— Ibid., p. 5.

— Ibid., p. 10.

254 Ibid.

255 Ibid., pp. 10-11.

— Ibid., p. 16. There is evidence that the mosque was raised on the site of a temple.

252 Ibid., p. 31.

255 Ibid., p. 32.

252 Ibid., p. 33.

— Ibid., p. 35.
m Ibid., p. 36.
m Ibid., p. 49.

— Ibid.,pp. 125-26.
m Ibid., p. 135.

— Ibid., p. 136.

— Ibid., p. 215.
m Ibid., p. 234.

255 Ibid., p. 235.

— Ibid., p. 238.

222 Ibid., p. 244.

— Ibid., pp. 268-69. Another wishful reading of an ancient inscription.

— Ibid.,pp. 279-80.

— Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, translated into English by Alexander Rogers, first published 1909-1914,
New Delhi Reprint, 1978, Vol. I, pp. 254-55.

— Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 223-25.

— Another manuscript of Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri, translated into English by Major David Price,
Calcutta, 1906, pp. 24-25.

— Translated from the Urdu version by Muhammad Bashir Husain, second edition, Lahore, 1986,

pp. 121-22.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. V, p. 97. The Urdu version by Muhammad Bashir Husain
adds that ^all buildings were pulled dowiv4> (p. 166).

1 Ibid., p. 98

279

Ibid., pp. 100-01

- Translated from the Urdu version, op. cit., p. 172.

■ Ibid., p. 178.

— Ibid., p. 179.

— Ibid., P. 199.

— Ibid., p. 305.

— Ibid., pp. 305-06

— Cited in The Cult of Jagannath and the Regional Tradition of Orrisa by Anncharotte Eschmann
et al, New Delhi, second printing. 1981, p. 322. footnote 7.

— Translated from the Hindi version by S.A.A. Rizvi in Uttara Taimur Kalina Bhdrata , Aligarh,
1959, Vol. II, p.256.

— Ibid., p. 273.

— Ibid., p. 318.

— Ibid., p. 319.

■ Ibid., p. 350.

— Mir fJd-i-Sikandari, translated by Fazlullah Lutfullah Faridi, Dharampur (Gujarat), Gurgaon
Reprint, 1990, p. 171.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit, Vol. VI, p. 451. An additional excuse besides commandments of
Allah was invented in order to destroy the temples.

— Summarised by Richard Maxwell Eaton in his Sufis of Bijapur 1300-1700, Princeton (U.S.A.),
1978, p. 68.

— Tarikli-Kashmir, edited and translated into English by Razia Bano, Delhi, 1991, p. 55.

— Ibid., p. 61.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. II.

m Ibid., pp. 525-27.
m Ibid., p. 527.

— Ibid., p. 538.

— Ibid.,pp. 546-47.

— Cited by P.M. Currie, op. cit., p. 74.
m Ibid., p. 75.

225 Ibid., p. 80.

— p. 83. The Sunnah of the Prophet prescribes that every true Muslim should force into his
e captured women of the unbelievers.

bed s<
m Ibid., pp. 86-87.

— Badshah Nama cited by Sri Ram Sharma, op. cit., p. 63.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. VII, p. 36. Sri Ram Sharma op. cit. cites Lahoti to add that
^three temples were destroyed in Gujarati (p. 86).

— Quoted by Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit., Vol. I and II, p. 15. Sri Ram Sharma cites Lahori to add
that ^several other temples suffered the same fate and were converted into mosques^ (p. 86).

— Cited by Sri Ram Sharma, op. cit., p. 86.

— The Shahjahan Nama of nay at Khan, translated by A.R. Fuller and edited and compiled by

W.E. Beyley and Z.A. Desai, OUP, Delhi, 1090, p. 161.

Elliot and Dowson, Vol. VII, p. 159.

314

Cited by Sri Rain Sharma, op. cit., p. 129.

— Maasir-i- Alamgiri , translated into English by Sir Jadu-Nath Sarkar, Calcutta, 1947, pp. 51-
52.

m Ibid., p. 55.

515 Ibid., p. 60.

515 Ibid., p. 107.

— Ibid., pp. 108-09.
m Ibid., pp. 114-15.

— Ibid., p. 116.

312 Ibid., p. 116-17.

— Ibid., p. 120. Amber had hem loyal to the Mughals since the days of Akhar, and, unlike Mewar
and Mewar, given no offence to Aurangzeb.

— Ibid.,p. 241.
m Ibid., p. 312.

m Ibid., pp. 314-15.

— Quoted by Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 186.

— Quoted by Ibid., p. 187.

— Quoted by Ibid., p. 188.

— Quoted by Ibid., p. 189.

— Cited by Sri Rain Sharma, op. cit, p. 136.

— Ibid., pp. 138-39

— Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit, Vol. I and II, pp. 120-21.

— Summarised in Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 103.

342 Quoted in Ibid., Vol. Ill, pp. 185-86.

— Quoted in Ibid., Vol. I and II, p. 94.

— Quoted in Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 188.

— Cited by Sri Ram Sharma. op. cit., p. 138.

— Ibid., pp. 144-45. The mosque demolished by Hindus had been built on the site of a temple
recently destroyed.

— Quoted in Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit, Vol. Ill, pp. 188-89.

— Quoted in Ibid., p. 187.

— Futuhat-i- &Alamgiri , translated into English by Tanseem Ahmad, Delhi, 1978. p. 82
225 Ibid., p. 130.

— Nau-Bahar-i-Murshid Quli-Khani, translated into English by Jadu Nath Sarkar and included in
his Bengal Nawdbs, Calcutta Reprint, 1985, p. 4.

252 Ibid., p. 7.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. VIII, pp. 38 -39.

— Cited by Sri Ram Sharma. op. cit, p. 86.

222 Cited by Ibid., pp. 86-87.

— Quoted in Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 188.

— Cited by Sri Ram Sharma, cit., p. 137.

— Quoted in Jadunath Sarkar, Vol. Ill, p. 207, footnote.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. VII, p. 405.

— Mirat-i-Ahmdi, translated into English by M.F. Lokhandwala, Baroda, 1965, P. 27. This
account is obviously a folktale because ^Alau^d-Din Khalji became a Sultan two hundred years

after Siddharaja JayasiMha ascended the throne of Gujarat. Moreover, ^►Alau^d-Din never went
to Gujarat; he sent his generals, Ulugh Khan and Nasrat Khan.

— Ibid., p. 28.

— Ibid., P. 29.
m Ibid., P. 34.

— Ibid., pp. 37-38. Sayyedpur is Sidhpur.

— Ibid., pp. 47-48.

— Ibid., p. 48.

362 Ibid., pp. 51-52.

— Ibid., p. 194. It was a Jain Temple built at great expense.

— Quoted in Jadunath Sarkar, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 186.

— Quoted in Ibid., p. 188.

— Quoted in Ibid., p. 186.

— Cited by Sri Ram Sharma, op. cit., p. 137.
m Cited by Ibid., p. 138.

— Elliot and Dowson, op. cit., Vol. VIII, pp. 264-65.

— Quoted by Jadunath Sarkar, Fall of The Mughal Empire , Vol. II, Fourth Edition, New Delhi,
1991, p. 70.

— History ofTipu Sultan Being a Continuation of The Neshan-i-Hyduri , translated from Persian
by Col. W. Miles, first published 1864, New Delhi Reprint, 1986, pp. 66-67.

— Riyuz-us-Salatin, translated into English by Abdus Salam, Delhi Reprint, 1976, pp. 63-64.

— Ibid.,pp. 17-18.

— Bahdr-i-Azam , translated in English, Madras, 1960, p. 2.

— Ibid., pp. 18-19.

— Ibid., p. 101.

— Ibid., p. 51. Hindu mythology from the RamayaNa has obvious, up with the story of how
Sayyid Nathar Shah (AD 969-1030) from Arabia destroyed a ^iva temple and converted it into
his khdnqdh. He died in AH 673, and the khdnqdh became a ddrgdlr which has since grown into
an important place of Muslim pilgrimage.

— Ibid., p. 63. This is another garbled account of how a Hindu temple was converted into a
Muslim dargdh during the time when Tiruchirapalli was occupied by Chanda Sahib, the Diwan of
the Nawwab of Arcot, and Rant Minakshi committed suicide when thrown into prison through
treachery.

— Ibid., p. 64.

— Ibid., p. 128.

— Translated from the Urdu of Asaru -Sanadid , edited by Khaleeq Anjum, New Delhi, 1990.

Vol. I, p. 305.

Ibid., p. 310.

! Ibid., pp. 310-11.

— Ibid.,p. 316.

— Ibid.,p. 310.

391

Ibid., p. 317.

392

Ibid., p. 89.

1 Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 406.

■ Ibid., p. 407.

’Ibid., Vol. I, p. 321.

! Ibid., p. 97.

— Ibid., Vol. Ill, p. 409.

— Ibid., Vol. I, p. 334.

399

Ibid., p. 361.

—- Cited by Dr. Harsh Narain in his article, Rama-Janmabhumi Temple: Muslim Testimony , Indian
Express, February 26, 1990.

— Cited by Ibid.

— Summarised from the Waqi &at, Vol. Ill, p. 575 by Richard Maxwell Eaton m his Sufis of
Bijapur 1300-1700, Princeton (U.S.A.), 1978, p. 68.

— Syed Mahmudul Hasan, Mosque Architecture of Pre-Mughal Bengal , Dacca (Bangladesh),
1979, p. 33.

m Ibid.

^ Ibid.

Ibid., p. 34.

■ Ibid., p. 38.

L Ibid., p. 43.

— Ibid., pp. 163-64. His statement that ^innumerable Hindu and Buddhist temples still exit in

the cities of India once conquered by the Muslims^, is a figment of his imagination. No city in
North India can show a temple from pre-Islamic times.

— Ibid., pp. 170-71. In subsequent passages he himself says that existing buildings were quarried
for stones used in Mosques. Medieval Muslim historians say that all Hindu temples were
destroyed and mosques raised at Lakhnauti, the site of Gaud, and Pandau.

— Ibid., pp.

— Ibid.,p. 183.
413 Ibid.

— Ibid.,p. 185.
411 Ibid., p. 37.
^ Ibid.

m Ibid., P. 64.

— Ibid., p. 38.
415 Ibid.

— Ibid.,p. 39.
424 Ibid.

— Ibid.,p. 43.
422 Ibid., p. 44.

424 Ibid., p. 45.
422 Ibid., p. 46.

425 Ibid.

422 Ibid.

— Ibid.

422 Ibid., p. 49.

171-72.

— Ibid., p. 50.

421 Ibid.

— Ibid., 62 and 64 (Illustration on p. 63).

— Ibid., p. 77.

424 Ibid.

’ Ibid., pp. 80-81.

! Ibid., pp. 81-82.

Ibid., p. 83.

— Ibid., pp. 85-86.

— Ibid.,P. 86.

440

441

442

443

444

445

446

447

448

449

450

451

452

453

454

Ibid., pp. 90-91.
Ibid., p. 97.

Ibid., p. 86.

Ibid., p. 128.
Ibid., p. 129.
Ibid., p. 131.
Ibid., p. 123.
Ibid., p. 122.
Ibid., p. 131.
Ibid., pp. 160-61.
Ibid., p. 163.
Ibid., p. 138.

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 141.
Ibid., pp. 144-45.

Ibid., p. 185.

455

650.

CHAPTER EIGHT
SUMMING UP

Starting with Al-Biladhuri who wrote in Arabic in the second half of the ninth century, and coming down to
Syed Mahmudul Hasan who wrote in English in the fourth decade of the twentieth, we have cited from
eighty histories spanning a period of more than twelve hundred years. Our citations mention sixty-one
kings, sixty-three military commanders and fourteen sufis who destroyed Hindu temples in one hundred
and fifty-four localities, big and small, spread from Khurasan in the West to Tripura in the East, and from
Transoxiana in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South, over a period of eleven hundred years. In most cases
the destruction of temples was followed by erection of mosques, madrasas and khanqahs, etc., on the
temple sites and, frequently, with temple materials. Allah was thanked every time for enabling the
iconoclast concerned to render service to the religion of Muhammad by means of this pious performance.

Some more kings or commanders or sufis who figure in these histories in a similar context may have
remained unmentioned because we had access to the full texts only in a few cases; most of the time we had
to remain content with excerpts or summaries made by modern historians in one context or the other. Many
more localities have remained unspecified because quite often the histories under reference, instead of
naming particular places, mention provinces and regions where large-scale destruction of temples took
place as a result of general orders issued to this effect, or intensive campaigns undertaken for this purpose
alone.

It is seldom that translations retain the full flavour of the language and meaning of the original works. In
our case, some of the flavour must have been lost in citations which we had to translate into English from
Urdu or Hindi renderings of the Persian texts. Even so, we feel that, taken together, the citations do bring
out something of the religious zeal harboured by the historians concerned when they sat down to glorify
Islam and highlight its heroes.

Coming to the heroes themselves, some of them figure more prominently or frequently in our citations,
such as Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud of Ghazni, Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish, AI filled-Din Khalji, Firuz
Shah Tughlaq, Ahmad Shah I and Mahmud BegDha of Gujarat, Sikander Lodi, and Aurangzeb; they have
earned permanent fame in the annals of Islam by doing what they did to Hindus in general and to Hindu
temples in particular. But the others, too, do not come out discreditably if a state of mind or an expressed
intention is any indication. Maybe, their achievements in this context have found a more detailed
description in histories to which we have had no access.

It is highly doubtful if the Mughal period deserves the credit it has been given as a period of religious
tolerance. Akbar is now known only for his policy of sulh-i-kul, at least among the learned Hindus. It is no
more remembered that to start with he was also a pious Muslim who had viewed as jihad his sack of
Chittor. Nor is it understood by the learned Hindus that his policy of sulh-i-kul was motivated mainly by his

bid to free himself from the stranglehold of the orthodox &Ulama, and that any benefit which Hindus
derived from it was no more than a by-product. Akbar never failed to demand daughters of the Rajput kings
for his harem. Moreover, as our citations show, he was not able to control the religious zeal of his
functionaries at the lower levels so far as Hindu temples were concerned. Jahangir, like many other Muslim
kings, was essentially a pleasure-seeking person. He, however, became a pious Muslim when it came to
Hindu temples of which he destroyed quite a few. Shah Jahan did not hide what he wanted to do to the
Hindus and their places of worship. His Islamic record on this score was much better than that of Jahangir.

The reversal of Akbar^s policy thus started by his two immediate successors reached its apotheosis in the

reign of Aurangzeb, the paragon of Islamic piety in the minds of Indians Muslims. What is more
significant, Akbar has never been forgiven by those who have regarded themselves as custodians of Islam,
right upto our own times; Maulana Abul Kalam Azad is a typical example. In any case one swallow has
never made a summer.

Certain localities also figure more prominently or more frequently in our citations, such as Multan,
Thanesar, Kangra, Mathura, Somnath, Varanasi, Ujjain, Chidambaram, Puri, Dwarka, Girinar and
Kanchipuraim. The iconoclasts paid special attention to temples in these places or mounted repeated attacks
on them. They knew that these were the holy cities of the Hindus, and entertained the fond hope that
desecration of idols and destruction of temples in these sanctuaries was most likely to make the Hindus lose

faith in their ^false gods^> and prepare them for receiving the, flight of Islam That, however, does
not mean that destruction of temples at other places was in any sense less thorough. Our citations reveal
more or less the same pattern everywhere, once the swordsmen of Islam got fired by their religious fervour.

It was not unoften that Hindu temples were admired by the iconoclasts for their strength or antiquity or
exquisiteness or the expense incurred on their construction. We are told that they were ^>as firm as the
faith of the faithful^ and ^>a thousand years old^>. It was estimated that they must have cost so many

^thousand thousand dirhams or so many ^Makhs of asharfics^. But none of these plus points was
reason enough for sparing them from the fate they deserved according to the Sunnah of the Prophet. They
embodied an ^>age of darkness and error^, they housed ^false gods^, and they enticed people away
from the worship of the ^>one and only true God^> - Allah of the Qur^an.

So the temples were attacked ^>all along the way ^ as the armies of Islam advanced; they were ^robbed
of their sculptural wealth^, ^pulled down^. ^>laid wasted, ^burnt with naptha^, ^trodden under

horse^s hoofsand ^destroyed from their very foundations^, till ^not a trace of them remained^.
Mahmud of Ghazni robbed and burnt down 1,000 temples at Mathura, and 10,000 in and around Kanauj.
One of his successors, Ibrahim, demolished 1,000 temples each in Hindustan (Ganga-Yamuna Doab) and

Malwa. Muhammad Ghuri destroyed another 1,000 at Varanasi. Qutbu^d-Din Aibak employed elephants

for pulling down 1,000 temples in Delhi. ^Ali I ^Adil Shah of Bijapur destroyed 200 to 300 temples in
Karnataka. A sufi, Qayim Shah, destroyed 12 temples at Tiruchirapalli. Such exact or approximate counts,
however, are available only in a few cases. Most of the time we are informed that ^>many strong temples
which would have remained unshaken even by the trumpets blown on the Day of ludgment, were levelled
with the ground when swept by the wind of Islam^.

We find the Muslim historians going into raptures as they describe scenes of desecration and destruction.
For Amir Khusru it was always an occasion to show off the power of his poetic imagination. When

Jalalu^d-Din Khalji wrought havoc at Jhain, ^ A cry rose from the temples as if a second Mahmud had

taken birtlr^. The temples in the environs of Delhi were ^bent in prayers^ and ^rnade to do

prostration^, by Alau^d-Din Khalji. When the temple of Somnath was destroyed and its debris thrown

into the sea towards the west, the poet rose to his full height. ^>So the temple of Somnath,^ he wrote,

^was made to bow towards the Holy Mecca, and the temple lowered its head and jumped into the sea, so

you may say that the building first said its prayers and then had a bath. ^

Our citations have a lot to tell about how the votaries of Islam viewed the idols of Gods and Goddesses
enshrined in the temples. Though the Arabic word used in the Qur^an for idols is Sanam, we find our
historians using the word but which they had borrowed form the Persians. The Persian word was a
corruption of the Sanskrit word ^Buddha with which the Persians had been familiar for a long time

because there were many Buddhist temples in Seistan, Khurasan and Transoxiana. The word &bitckl & has
actually been used in some of the histories when referring to idols which were burnt or which the infidels
were prevented from worshipping. Small wonder that the temples which enshrined statues of the Buddha
became special targets for the Islamic iconoclasts. We shall deal with this subject in greater detail at a later
stage in this series; for now, it is sufficient to say that the deathblow to Buddhism, a religion centred round
temples and monasteries and monks, was delivered by the armies of Islam and not by the much-maligned

^Brahmanical reaction^ as our Marxist ^historians are never tired of telling the world.

There was, however, one name which intrigued the iconoclasts for a long time, till the matter was cleared
by some scholars of Islam in consultation with the Brahmans. It seems that the Arabs were familiar with the

word ^Somandtha (which they pronounced as ^Somnat^) even in the pre-Islamic period. Arab

merchants who visited or lived in Gujarat must have told their countrymen about this fabulous ^iva
temple. It is also possible that Somnath was a place of pilgrimage for the Arabs. The pre-Islamic Arabs
were ^idolaterslike the Hindus and could not but have felt reverence for ^ Somnath. Something of
this reverence seems to have survived even after Islam brought about a radical transformation in their
religious values. We find reflection of it in the story that Manat , a Goddess of the pagan Arabs, had

escaped when the Prophet tried to get her, and taken refuge in the temple of ^ Somnath; the word

^Somnat^ was split into ^So^ and ^manta^ in order to support the story. We find references to this
story in several histories. Once in a while another Arab Goddess, Lat, was also suspected to be hiding at
Somnath.

In any case, the Qur^an had proclaimed that the idols were ^deaf and dumb^>, could ^neither help nor
haring, and ^>did not know it when they were broken^. Subsequent theologians extended the meaning of
^ broken^ and explained that the idols did not know when they were robbed of their adornments or
defiled or mutilated; their only function was to ^deceive^ those who had not been blessed by the
^►message of monotheism^. So an iconoclast cut off the hands of a Hindu idol in Seistan and plucked out
its eyes in order to demonstrate the ^divine truths. Muhammad bin Qasim took off the necklace of the
idol at Multan and replaced it with a piece of cow^s flesh. The idol did not ^>protest^>, nor did it do
anything else in order to prove that it had any ^ power for good or evil^. Other veterans of Islam tried
other methods to show to the ^infidels^ that their ^gods^ were ^Hielpless^ and they themselves
^►misguided^.

Again, we can depend upon the poetic powers of Amir Khusru. He quoted the Qur^an before describing
the iconoclasm at Somnath. ^It seemed,^ he wrote, ^>as if the tongue of the Imperial sword explained
the meaning of the text: ^>So he (Abraham) broke them (the idols) into pieces except the chief of them,
that haply they may return to it.^ Such a pagan country, the Mecca of the infidels, now became the
Medina of Islam. The earliest historians relate that while Mahmud broke the other idols, he carried the
main ^idol^ unbroken to Ghazni. So the ^big brother^ did not know what had happened to the ^little

ones^, as in the story of Abraham in the Qur^an. Khusru^s highest poetic performance, however, came

when he described the scene at Chidambaram. ^The stone idol called Ling Mahadeo,^ he sang, ^which
had been a long time established at that place and on which the women of the infidels rubbed their vaginas
for (sexual) satisfaction, these upto this time the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to breaks
The Musalmans destroyed all the lings and Deo Narain fell down, and the other gods who had fixed their
seats there raised their feet, and jumped so high, that at one leap they reached the fort of Lanka, and in that

affright the lings themselves would have fled had they any legs to stand on.

To resume the story, some of the idols were made of precious metals and/or adorned with costly jewels;
they had to be handled with care so that the faithful were not deprived of the booty promised by Allah to
those who removed his rivals out of the way. Such images were first divested of their jewellery, then they
were broken or burnt, and finally melted down; the bullion and the jewels were forwarded to the caliph or

the king, whoever happened to be the patron of the ^Mioly expedition^. Occasionally, the idols were
simply collected and sent to the capital city and it was the despot there who decided what to do with them.
They certainly provided ^great fun^> to the ^chosen peopled before being disposed off in whatever
manner was found appropriate, depending upon the type of the idols. Those made of precious metals ended
in the royal treasury. Those made of inferior metals were turned into various instruments or vessels or used
for decorative purposes such as door handles; later on, the bigger ones were recast to make cannon. Idols
made of wood and stone etc., were broken and scattered on the doorsteps of mosques, particularly the

Jami^ Masjids, so that people on their way to prayers could trample or cleanse their soiled feet upon them,
before entering the ^sacred precincts^.

Several instances are cited when the Hindus tried to ransom their idols, sometimes by expressing
willingness to pay their weight in gold. All such offers were ^rejected with contempt^ because the hero

concerned wanted to earn ^ merit in the eyes of Allah ^ rather than ^mere mammon^. Those who want
to explain away the destruction of Hindu temples in terms of economic motives, are called upon to explain
these instances.

Mahmud of Ghazni broke many idols with his own hand, including that of ^>Somnat4U He sent the pieces
to Mecca, Medina and Baghdad, besides keeping some in his own capital at Ghazni. It was not for nothing
that his coins struck at Lahore described him as ^butshikan idol-breaker. Subsequent sultans followed
his example. Unfortunately for them, the ^accursed Mangold, Changiz Khan, overran a large part of

Islamdom and blocked the way to the ^Mioly cities^ in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, just at the
time when a vast field for breaking idols and collecting their pieces was opening before the heroes of Islam
in Hind. In AD 1258, his grandson, Halaku, beat their own idol, the caliph, into pulp and got the ^Hioly^
city of Baghdad ploughed over. So the pieces had perforce to lie before mosques in lesser places-Lahore,
Delhi, Lakhnauti, Daulatabad, Gulbarga, Madura, Burhanpur, Bidar, Mandu, Ahmadabad, Jaunpur, Agra,
Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golkonda, Hyderabad, Aurangabad. They will be brought in by cart-loads in the

time of Aurangzeb. One of our historians tells us that ^ All I ^>Adil Shah of Bijapur broke four to five
thousand idols with his own hands while campaigning in Karnataka.

Meanwhile, other methods of telling the ^truths about the idols had been devised by the more
imaginative among the swordsmen of Islam. Firuz Shah Tughlaq had the idol at Puri perforated and
dragged along the road to Delhi. The pieces of the idol at Kangra were given to the butchers for being used
as weights while selling meat. The copper umbrella of the same idol he got recast into pots for heating

water with which the faithful washed their ^hands, feet and faces^, before saying their prayers. Mahmud

Khalji of Malwa had the idol at Kumbhalgadh reduced to lime which was put in pans (betel-leaves) and the
Hindus were forced to ^eat their god^. He had taken literally a latter-day story of what Mahmud of
Ghazni had done to the idol of ^ So mil at ^ when the Brahmans arrived in his capital to transom their
God^.

The Brahmans who were custodians of the idols and idol-houses, and ^teachers of the infidels^, also
received their share of attention from the soldiers of Allah. Our citations contain only stray references to
the Brahmans because they have been compiled primarily with reference to the destruction of temples.
Even so, they provide the broad contours of another chapter in the history of medieval India, a chapter
which has yet to be brought out in full. The Brahmans are referred to as magicians by some Islamic
invaders and massacred straight away. Elsewhere, the Hindus who are not totally defeated and want to
surrender on some terms, are made to sign a treaty saying that the Brahmans will be expelled from the

temples. The holy cities of the Hindus were ^>the nests of the Brahmans^ who had to be slaughtered
before or after the destruction of temples, so that these places were ^cleansed^ completely
of &kufr & and made fit as abodes of Islam

Amir Khusru describes with great glee how the heads of Brahmans ^danced from their necks and fell to
the ground at their feet^, along with those of the other ^infidels^ whom Malik Kafur had slaughtered

during the sack of the temples at Chidambaram. Firuz Shah Tughlaq got bags full of cnw^s flesh tied
round the necks of Brahmans and had them paraded through his army camp at Kangra. Muhmud Shah II
Bahmani bestowed on himself the honour of being a ghazi , simply because he had killed in cold blood the
helpless BrahmaNa priests of the local temple after Hindu warriors had died fighting in defence of the fort
at Kondapalli. The present-day progressives, leftists and da I its whose main plank is anti-Brahminism have
no reason to feel innovative about their ideology. Anti-Brahminism in India is as old a the advent of Islam.
Our present-day Brahmin-baiters are no more than ideological descendants of the Islamic invaders. Hindus

will do well to remember Mahatma Gandhi ^s deep reflection—^if Brahmanism does not revive,

Hinduism must perish. ^

The next step which the heroes of Islam took after a place had been ^purged by the sword form the filth of

impurity and the thorn of god-plurality^ and the ^foundations of infidelity destroyed^, was to build
mosques and madrasas etc., on the same sites where the temples stood, most often with the materials of
those very temples. The operation was generally preceded by a pious ritual in which the victors prostrated

themselves and praised Allah ^for the honour He bestows on Islam and the Musalmans^. Cows were
slaughtered on the temple sites in order to render them unclean for the Hindus for all time to come; it had
been noticed that the Hindus demolished the mosques and rebuilt their temples on the same sites whenever

they recaptured a place. Now the mosques and madrasas could spread the flight of Islamwithout
interruption. Finally, the priests of Islam took over—the khatibs , the mu 4>zzins, th emuhtahsibs and
the qdzis. The ^uproar of the heathens gave way to shouts of Allahu Akbar^ and the ^strongholds of

heathenism were made into abodes of IslamMeanwhile, the endowments enjoyed by the temples had
been transferred to the upcoming Islamic establishments, so that whatever temple priests had survived the
slaughter had to starve while the Muslim clerics prospered.

The most significant feature of our histories, however, is the religious zeal felt or exhibited by the
swordsmen of Islam before and after the ^infidelswho resisted ^were sent to hell the Brahmans
massacred or molested or expelled, idols desecrated, temples demolished, and mosques raised in their

stead. The prophet of Islam appears in a dream and bids a sultan to start on the ^>holy expedition^,
leaving no doubt that the ^victory of religion^ was assured. Amir Khusru was very eloquent about the
transformation that was taking place. When the hordes of Alau^d-Din Khalji sacked the temple of
Somnath, he exulted, ^The sword of Islam purified the land as the Sun purifies the earth. ^ His

enthusiasm broke all bounds when the same hordes swept over South India: ^The tongue of the sword of
the Khalifa of the time, which is the tongue of the flame of Islam, has imparted light to the entire darkness
of Hindustan by the illumination of its guidance^ and several capitals of the gods of the Hindus in which
Satanism had prevailed since the time of linns, have been demolished. All these impurities of infidelity
have been cleansed by the Sultanas destruction of idol-temples, beginning with his first expedition to

Deogir, so that the flames of the fight of the law illumine all these unholy countries^ God be praised!^
One wonders whether the poet of Islam is being honoured or slandered when he is presented in our own
times as the pioneer of Secularism. Or, perhaps. Secularism in India has a meaning deeper than that we find
in the dictionaries or dissertations on political science. We may not be much mistaken if, seeing its studied
exercise in blackening everything Hindu and whitewashing everything Islamic, we suspect that this
Secularism is nothing more than the good old doctrine of Islam in disguise.

If our citations prove anything and prove it beyond a shadow of doubt, it is this that in doing what they did
to Hindu temples the heroes of Islam were inspired by their religion and religion alone. They cannot be
blamed if the plunder which occasionally preceded the destruction of temples was viewed by them as a

well-deserved reward for doing service to Allah and his Last Prophet; they knew what the Qur^an and the
Sunnah had prescribed in very clear language and, therefore, had a clean conscience. It is a different matter
altogether that their religion provided, more often than not, a cover, or an a posteriori justification as
Professor Mohammed Habib would like to put it, for some of the basest motives in human nature and
attracted to its standards some of the worst hoodlums and gangsters and blood-thirsty bandits that the world
has known. The fact that these despicable characters have been made to masquerade
as Mujahids and Ghazis and Shahids and Sultans and Sufis by Muslim historians can hoodwink no one
except those who either do not know the facts or have the same moral standards as those of Islam.

Our Marxist professors and other pandits of Secularism are very much mistaken when they discover or
invent economic and/or political motives for explaining away the crimes committed by Islam. Either they
have remained totally ignorant of what the Theology of Islam prescribes vis-a-vis the unbelievers, their
women and children, their properties, their homelands, their religious teachers, and their places of worship;
or their deep-seated animus against everything Hindu has pushed them into the camp of those who are out
to destroy everything for which this country has been held in high esteem down the ages. We shall, give
them the benefit of doubt and assume that their ignorance of the Theology of Islam rather than their anti-
Hindu animus is the culprit. We proceed to present that Theology in the chapter that follows.

Footnotes:

1 Outran, 21.51-70.

CHAPTER NINE

THEOLOGY OF MONOTHEISM

The destruction of Hindu temples at the hands of Islamized invaders continued for more than eleven
hundred years, from the middle of the seventh century to the end of the eighteenth.- It took place all over
the cradle of Hindu culture, from Sinkiang in the North to Tamil Nadu in the South, and from Seistan in the
West to Assam in the East. =

All along, the iconoclasts remained convinced that they were putting into practice the highest tenets of their
religion. They also saw to it that a record was kept of what they prized as a pious performance. The
language of the record speaks for itself. It leaves no doubt that they took immense pride in doing what they
did.

It is inconceivable that a constant and consistent behaviour pattern, witnessed for a long time and over a
vast area, can be explained except in terms of a settled system of belief which leaves no scope for second
thoughts. Looking at the very large number of temples, big and small, destroyed or desecrated or converted
into Muslim monuments, economic or political explanations can be only a futile, if not fraudulent, exercise.
The explanations are not even plausible.

In fact, it is not at all difficult to locate the system of belief which inspired the behaviour pattern. We have
only to turn to the scriptures of Islam-the Qur^an and the Sunnah of the Prophet-and we run straight into
what we are looking for. The principles and the pious precedents which were practised and followed by the
subsequent swordsmen of Islam are, all of them, there.

The scriptures of Islam do not merely record what happened in the past; they also prescribe that what is
recorded should be imitated by the faithful in the future, till the end of time. That is why the swordsmen of

Islam who functioned in times much later than that of the Qur^an and the Sunnah, did what they did. It is
in the very nature of scriptures, as we shall see, that they make permanent what can otherwise be dated and
dismissed as temporary aberrations.

Those scriptures are still being taught in hundreds of maktabs and madrasas spread over the length and
breath of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Missionaries of Islam that are turned out by these institutions,

year after year, are never told by their teachers that the prescriptions regarding other peopled places of
worship stand abrogated or are out of date. At the same time, the swordsmen who destroyed innumerable
temples and monasteries all over the vast cradle of Hindu culture, retain their halos as the heroes of Islam.
That alone can explain why Hindu temples become the first targets of attack whenever Muslim mobs are
incited against India by the mullas in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kashmir.

It is, therefore, worthwhile to clarify what the word ^scripturestands for, before we take up the
scriptures of Islam. The language of Christianity and Islam in the modern media has confused the language
of religion, all along the line. Even scholars do not seem to know or care to clarify that scriptures as such
are specific to the prophetic or revealed religions such as ludaism, Christianity and Islam, and that they
remain unknown to the pagan- spiritual traditions such as that of the Hindus, the Chinese, the ancient
Iranians, and the pre-Christian Greeks, Romans, Germans, Slavs, Scandinavians, Celts, etc.

The confusion has been further confounded by what passes for Secularism in this country. Most of our
scribes in the mass media are either equally ignorant of all religions or equally indifferent to them. But they
insist, with considerable vehemence, that all religions say the same things. Politicians in power are much

worse. As they preside over the birthday functions or festivals related to ^ri Rama, ^>ri KrishNa,
Bhagavan Mahavira, Bhagavan Buddha and Guru Nanak on the one hand, and Jesus Christ and Prophet
Muhammad on the other, they harangue the audience to follow the teachings in each case. It never occurs
to them that Christianity and Islam have nothing in common with the Hindu spiritual traditions and that the

followers of the former have tried and are trying their utmost to wipe out the latter.-

Meaning of Scripture

Etymologically, the word ^scripture^ is derived from the Latin scribere to write. In the lexicons of
the revealed religions, however, the word does not refer to writing down of human speech or verbalizing of
human thought or recording of terrestrial events. Instead, it stands for the ^Word of God^> written in
^the Book^.

The word of God, in its turn, does not come to any and every one who seeks it, howsoever devoutly.
Instead, it is ^revealed ^ to some highly privileged persons known as ^prophets ^. Everyone else has to

learn it second-hand, and accept it as authentic even when it runs counter to one^s experience, or reason,
or moral sense, or all of them taken together. No one else can have direct knowledge of it or aspire to enter
into the consciousness to which it was revealed, as in the case of pagan spiritual traditions which entitle
every seeker to attain the consciousness of their greatest saints and sages, and know God directly and first¬
hand. Belief in the word of God as spoken by the Prophet and as written in the Book is, therefore, all that is
needed for qualifying as one of the faithful. At the same time, mental belief and not moral behaviour is the

criterion forjudging a personas character.

Nor do the prophets take birth among any or every people. Etymylogically, the word ^prophet^ is

derived from the Greek &phanai to speak, which is a cognate of the Sanskrit &bhaNa In the
lexicons of the revealed religions, however, the prophet is no ordinary spokesman. Instead, he is the
^spokesman of deity. ^ And he is 4>sent^ only to the ^Chosen People,^ with whom God intends to
enter into a Covenant^.

So far there have been only three chosen people-the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims. According to
the covenants which God has entered into with them, each of them has been promised world-dominion and

untold amounts of unearned wealth in exchange for making God known to all those who worship Mother

gods^> and thus deny God^s ^ Unity ^ and ^Unique Majesty^.

Rise of Theology

In due course, as the word of God is studied, systematized and interpreted, it gives birth to a supplementary
discipline named Theology. Etymologically, the word ^theology^ is a compound of two Greek words-

^theos^ meaning ^>god^>, and ^logos^ meaning ^Kvord. But curiously enough, the ancient
Greeks from whose language the compound has been constructed were unaware of the very notion of word
of God. Theology was formulated and used for the first time by the Founding Fathers of the Christian
Church for presenting their peculiar creed to pagans in the Roman Empire. It had nothing whatsoever to do
with any Greek religion or philosophy, of which there were quite a few before they were destroyed or
subverted by Christianity. Islamic scholarship which flourished in the wake of the Prophet, fashioned
another theology, more or less on the same pattern, a few hundred years later.

Theology is a large and complex subject. What concerns us here is some specific features which
characterise it. One of those features is that the life-style of the Prophet and his companions/apostles is

proclaimed as the ^divine pattern of human conduct^ which should be copied by everyone, everywhere,
in order to qualify for salvation or paradise. According to another, the doings of the chosen people as they
wage wars, conquer countries and convert or kill other people, are to be seen as the unfoldment of a

^►divine plan in human history^.

What is most significant, however, is that theology notices and notifies three neat and sharp divisions.
Firstly, it divides human history into two periods-an ^>age of ignorance^ preceding the appearance
of the Prophet, and an ^age of illumination^ following that event. Secondly, it bifurcates the human
family into two factions-the ^believerswho accept the Prophet as the one and only ^ mediator^

between God and human beings, and the ^unbelievers^ who have either not heard of f/reProphet at all or
find him unacceptable for whatever reason. Thirdly, it breaks up the inhabited world into two camps-the
lands ruled by the believers, and the lands where the unbelievers live.

Proceeding further, theology pronounces a permanent war, hailed as ^>holy^>, between the three sets of
divisions. Religions and cultures which preceded the age of ignorance have to go and yield place to the
religion and culture of the age of illumination. Next, the believers must strive, ceaselessly and by every
means at their disposal, to convert the unbelievers to the new creed. Finally, the lands of the believers must
be made into launching pads for missions as well as military expeditions to be sent to the lands of the
unbelievers, so that the latter are conquered and turned into lands of the believers.

Naturally, the places where the unbelievers worship and the institutions which sustain that worship, become
the first and foremost targets of holy wars. The idols- of the unbelievers^ Gods are at least mutilated, if
they cannot be smashed to pieces. The temples where those Gods are worshipped are at least desecrated, if
they cannot be destroyed. The schools and monasteries where the unbelievers learn their religion are at
least plundred, if they cannot be razed to the ground. The saints, sages and scholars who guide the
unbelievers are at least humiliated, driven out and deprived of livelihood, if they cannot be killed outright.

The literature which enshrines the unbelievers^ religion and culture is scattered to the winds, or burnt on
the spot, or used as fuel in the homes of the believers. And so on, the war on the religion and culture of the
unbelievers is total and unrelenting.

These operations are expected to help the unbelievers lose faith in their own Gods and acquire an awe for
the God of the conqueror. The God of the conqueror stands glorified when new places of worship are raised
on the sites of the old, preferably with the debris of those that have been deliberately demolished. And that

God is fully vindicated when the believers tread under foot the idols of the unbelievers^ Gods or their
pieces, as they walk towards the new places of worship for offering prayers.

Finally, theology enjoins that the holy wars and all that they mean should be recorded meticulously and in
lustrous language. These records testify to the unfoldment of the divine plan in human history in the past,
and inspire future generations of believers to unfold it further. We have three extensive versions of this

unfoldment or the triumph of the ^true faith^ over ^false belief-the Judaic, the Christian, and the

Islamic. All of them glorify the ^great heroes^ who waged holy wars and heaped defeats and

humiliations on the ^infidelsThe Il'ich rewards^ which God bestowed on the believers for fulfilling
their part of the covenant are also described at length. And succeeding generations of believers have, no
doubt, felt inspired to follow in the footsteps of their ^illustrious forefathers^.

Role of Theology

Apart from providing the right perceptions, inspiring pious performances, and establishing illustrious
precedents, theology serves another and, psychologically, a very useful purpose. It prepares the believers

for feeling the ^glow of faith ^ as they read or listen to the unfoldment of the divine plan in human
history. The accounts are spiritually satisfying-how every trace of the religion and culture of the age of
ignorance was wiped out, to start with, in the Prophet^s own land of birth; how one land after another was
invaded and laid waste without any provocation on the part of the victims of aggression; how innocent and
defenceless people were massacred in cold blood and with a clean conscience; how large numbers of
noncombatant men, women and children were captured and sold into slavery and concubinage; how native
populations were reduced to the status of non-citizens, drawing water and hewing wood for the conqueror,
and groaning under the weight of discriminatory levies and back-breaking disabilities; how great creations
of graphic arts were mutilated or broken to pieces or trampled under foot; how edifices of exquisite beauty,
embodying skills accumulated over ages, were pulled down and levelled with the ground; how whole
libraries containing priceless works of science and literature, were burnt down; how saints and sages and
scholars who had given no offence and meant no harm, were humiliated or manhandled or killed; how vast
properties, moveable and immoveable, were misappropriated. And so on, the record is invariably crowded
with the darkest crimes and fiendish cruelty. Only the believers find it fulfilling. For persons with normal
moral sensibilities, it is a nightmare. The only point which goes in its favour is that it provides the best
commentary on the doctrines of the creed concerned.

Looking at the character of the God of revealed religions, the quality of his words, the life-styles of his
prophets, and the course of his divine plans in human history, one wonders whether the revealed religions
do not reveal an Orwellian world abounding in marvels of doublethink and double-speak. Here one meets
the Devil masquerading as God, and gangsters strutting around as prophets. Here one discovers that the
scripture does not inspire spiritual seeking or moral discipline but, on the contrary, encourages the basest in
human nature to run riot without any restraint. All in all. Theology stands out as another name for
Demonology, and the revealed religions reveal themselves as no more than totalitarian ideologies of
imperialism, of enslavement and genocide. They turn out to be older versions of what we have known as
Communism and Nazism in our own times. A Secularism which puts them on par with the spiritual
traditions of Hinduism is not only foolish but also mischievous. It misses the very meaning of religion, and
shelters gangsterism.

Theology of Islam

Islam uses the Arabic language instead of Hebrew or Greek, but says the same things as the older revealed
religions. Its only point of departure is that it abrogates the earlier revelations, and subordinates the earlier

prophets to the ^latest and the last^.

Islam has hijacked Allah from the pantheon of the pre-Islamic Arabs and turned him into a jealous God
who tolerates no Mother gods^L Allah of Islam is no more than a reincarnation of lehovah, the Judaic and
the Christian God in the Bible.

The prophet of Islam, Muhammad, moulds himself, consciously and progressively, in the image of Moses.
In fact, his very name, Nabi, has been taken from the Hebrew Lexicon.

Allah now speaks only through the mouth of Muhammad. That is the Qur^an, or the Book (Kitab). Here

also the word of God is borrowed, by and large, from the Bible. The only difference is that the Qur^an
lacks the literary merit and narrative coherence of the earlier scripture. It is a loose bundle of vehement
utterances, without any chronological or thematic order, and has to be understood with the help of
laborious, very often speculative, commentaries.

Again, Allah acts in the life-style of Muhammad. That is the Sunnah of the Prophet. This divine pattern of
human conduct knows all the answers. No pious Muslim has to use his own mental faculties or devise his
own individual course of action. It is all laid down for him, from birth to death, and even beyond. As the
theologians of Islam say, Muslims should not use their aql (reason); all they need is naql (imitation of the
Prophet).

The covenant, MiSdq , into which Allah enters with the newly chosen people, the Ummatu Muhammadt,
commands them to worship him alone and convert or kill or enslave those who worship other gods.

Allah^s earlier covenants with the Jews or the Ummatu Ibrahtmt and the Christians or the Ummatu Isa,
stand cancelled. Now onwards, Muslims alone are entitled to rule over the world and appropriate its wealth.
There is a slight ^improvement^ also in the new covenant. Plunder of the infidels^ properties,
particularly their women and children, was not permitted to the earlier chosen people, while it has been
prescribed as obligatory for the Ummatu Muhammadt.

The doings of the Ummatu Muhammadt in Arabia and many other lands manifest the divine plan in human
history. The annals of Islam, the Twarikh, which are an integral part of its theology, have been penned by
some of its most pious scholars.

The theology of Islam, Kaldm, deals with the same old divisions of human history, the human family, and
the inhabited world. The period before Muhammad started receiving revelations and proclaimed his
prophethood is denounced as Jdhiltya, the age of ignorance; the period succeeding that event is the age

of Ilm, enlightenment. Those who recite the Kalima or confession of faith-Ld Ildlia Ilia &llahu,
Mahammadun Rasul &llah( there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet)- -ar zMu Minins, the

believers; those who do not, are Kafirs, the unbelievers. The lands ruled by the Mu &mins are Ddr al-Isldm,
abodes of peace, while those where the Kafirs live are Ddr al-Harb, abodes of war, where
the Mu ffinins should ply their swords. It sounds logical that in popular Muslim parlance a Kafir is often
called a Harbt, that is, one who deserves treatment of the sword.

Finally, Islam enjoins a permanent war. Jihad, by the Mu 4>mins and against the Kafirs. We need not give
the details which we have already presented elsewhere, in principle as well as practice.- Suffice it to say
that it is an extremely bloody affair, entailing continued wars of conquest, massacres, mass conversions by
force, widespread plunder, enslavement of prisoner taken in war, collection of booty including non-
combatant men and women and children, subjugation of native populations, and the rest. What concerns us
here is that Jihad is centred round iconoclasm. In fact, the need for Jihad arises only because

the Kafirs worship their own Gods instead of Muhammad^s Allah. Jihad, therefore, remains incomplete
till all places where those Gods are worshipped get levelled with the ground, and all saints and priests who
spread and sustain Kufr are converted or killed.

Confining ourselves to India, ^The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in

history,^ according to Will Durant, the famous student of civilizations. He finds it ^a discouraging tale,
for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious thing whose delicate complex of order and liberty,
culture and peace may at any time be overthrown by barbarians^ But the pious Muslims read or listen
to this story with immense satisfaction. They go into raptures as their heroes invade Sind and Hind,
massacre the accursed Kafirs without remorse, capture and sell into slavery large numbers of Hindu men
and women and children, kill or heap humiliations on Hindu saints and scholars, desecrate or destroy idols
of Hindu Gods and Goddesses, pull down Hindu temples or convert them into masjids and madrasas,
reduce the Hindus to non-citizens in their own homeland, and misappropriate all properties, moveable and
immoveable. And they get furious when they find the Hindus failing to admire Muhammad bin Qasim,

Mahmud of Ghazni, Muhammad Ghuri, Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish, Ghiyasu^d-Din Balban, ^Alau^d-

Din Khalji, Muhammad and Firuz Shah Tughalaq, Sikandar Lodi, Babur, Aurangzeb, and Ahmad Shah
Abdali, to cite only the most notable among Muslim heroes in the history of India. The theology of Islam
has thus performed to perfection the function it is intended to perform, even though the forefathers of an
overwhelming majority of Muslims in India were victims of this theology.

In our specific context, namely, the destruction of Hindu temples, it should be more than sufficient if we
merely cite what the Qur^an says, in verse after verse and chapter after chapter, vis-a-vis
the mushriks (polytheists) and the aSndm (idols) they worship. Allah of Islam leaves no one in doubt that
he sanctions the destruction of Utilise gods^ and the places where they receive homage. So is the case
with the Sunnah of the Prophet. We have only to list the instances of iconoclasm which Muhammad
undertook himself or ordered in his own lifetime, and we have more than sufficient pious precedents which

the faithful are expected to follow. Anyone who says that the Qur^an and the Sunnah do not enjoin the

destruction of other peopled places of worship has either not read the documents, or has failed to grasp
the message, or is practising deliberate deception. No amount of apologetics can cover up or explain away
the principle and the practice.

A mere narration of principle and practice, however, is likely to leave a mistaken impression. People who
are not familiar with the rise and spread of Islam have been led away by the Big Lie that the people of
Arabia rallied round a prophet and did, willingly and voluntarily, whatever he asked them to do, because
they knew no better. This lie has succeeded to a great extent not only in the lands which are now occupied
by the believers but also in India which has battled with Islam for more than thirteen hundred years. But
nothing can be farther from the truth as told in the orthodox biographies of the Prophet. The people of
Arabia resisted Muhammad and his message, and fought in defence of their ancient religion and culture, till
they were forced to surrender in the face of a formidable military machine forged by him at Medina. The
machine was financed by plunder obtained through widespread raids, and manned by desperados recruited

from all over Arabia. Neither the Qur^an nor the Sunnah of the Prophet can be understood or evaluated
properly unless it is placed in its historical context, namely, the pre-Islamic Arab society and culture which
had functioned for a long time to the satisfaction of the people concerned, till Muhammad appeared on the
scene.

Footnotes:

1 We are leaving for the time being the destruction that took place in Muslim princely states under
British rule as also that which has continued since 1947 in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kashmir.

2 We are leaving for the time being the destruction which took place and is taking place in
Indonesia and Malaysia.

- The Chambers 20th Century Dictionary defines a pagan as ^>a heathen, one who is not a
Christian, Jew, or Muslim^ ^

- The subject has been discussed in detail by Dr. Harsh Narain in his study. Myths of Composite
Culture and Equality of Religions, published by Voice of India, New Delhi, 1991.

2 See the Chambers 20th Century Dictionary for the Meaning of Prophet.

- It is a cognate of the Sanskrit &deva

- The word ^>idol^ is derived from the Greek &idein to see, which is a cognate of the
Sanskrit &vid to perceive.

- The first part of the Kalima is often translated as ^there is no god but God,^> which is not only

misconceived but positively mischievous. Allah of the Qur^an never claims to be the God of
mankind; he prides in being the God of Muslims alone.

- The Calcutta Quran Petition By Chandmal Chopra, with two prefaces by Sita Ram Goel, second
the enlarged edition. New Delhi. 987, pp. 35-37.

— Will Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. I, Our Oriental Heritage, New York, 1972, p. 459.

CHAPTER TEN

THE PRE-ISLAMIC ARABS

Muslim theologians and historians present a pretty dark picture of pre-Islamic Arabia. Its people, we are
told, were unrepentant pagans and polytheists unware of the Unity of God and the succession of his
Prophets. They believed that Allah, the one and only True God, stood in need of partners who could
mediate between him and his creatures. Worse still, they gave daughters to Allah while they preferred sons
for themselves. They worshipped stones ( authan ) and statues ( aSnam ) and offered sacrifices to satans.

They had had no Prophet (Rasul) and possessed no scripture ( Kitab ) of their own. Consequently, they were
ignorant of the Last Day ( Qiydmat ), as also of Heaven ( Jannat ) and Hell (Jahannam). They revelled in
blood feuds, and buried alive their female infants. Sons married their step-mothers, and the same man two
or more uterine sisters. And so on, till the conviction grows on the readers or listeners that the pre-Islamic
Arabs were despicable barbarians.

Christian theologians and historians follow suit. They do not endorse Muhammad as a prophet; in fact, they
call him an impostor. All the same, they prefer him to the pagans and polytheists whom he fought and

subdued. They do not concede that Muhammad^s message was spiritually sound or morally adequate. Yet
they hail his teachings as a marked improvement on the mode of worship and morals which prevailed
earlier. Thus they stand solidly, though negatively, united with their Muslim counterparts in denouncing the
state of affairs in pre-Islamic Arabia.

And there is no dearth of Hindu scholars, even Hindu saints, who join the chorus. Even those Hindus who
are by no means enamoured of Islam and distrust or despise it as a religion, regard it none-the-less an

immense improvement over what went in Arabia before its advent. They say that Islam united the ^ Arab

rabbled into a ^►nation^, and gave them at least the ^rudiments of cultured. It never occurs to these

Hindus that Muslim scholars who denounce pre-Islamic Arabia view pre-Islamic India also as an ^area of

darkness^ to which Islam brought ^illumination^ for the first time. Though Hindus have been victims
of Islamic aggression for several centuries, few of them feel sympathy for victims of the same aggression
elsewhere.

The pre-Islamic Arabs seem to have no case simply because no one and almost nothing has survived to tell
their side of the story. Unlike the Hindus who have survived the onslaught of Islam and can compare what
they had with what was brought in by Islam, the pre-Islamic Arabs have passed into what is more or less a
total oblivion. The Prophet of Islam and his rightly-guided Caliphs saw to it that no trace was left of the
pre-Islamic religion and culture of Arabia, not even in the consciousness of the converts. Franz Babinger

writes vis-a-vis the pre-Islamic Sabaean civilization of Arabia: ^>The new creed had the greatest interest in
obliterating all recollection of the pagan period, not only in stone monuments which still survived the

natural weathering—these were destroyed to provide material for new buildings, or burned for lime or
sometimes out of sheer vandalism—but also in literature, and even in consigning the ancient language to

oblivion.^- Whatever could not be wiped out was converted so completely as to look like a contribution of

Islam. The Ka^ba and the Hajj ceremonies provide excellent examples. So does the Arabic language
which, although it retains its old sounds and syntax, has been made to convey meanings and concepts
which were foreign to it in its pristine state.

The greatest blow which pre-Islamic Arabia has suffered is the perversion of its history. An overwhelming
majority of the Arabs had never heard of Abraham before Muhammad started mentioning him; those few
who had, had no reason to like him in view of the contempt which his people, the Jews settled in Arabia,
had continued to pour on the Arabs. Moreover, it was not long before the birth of Muhammad that the king
of Yemen who had converted to the creed of Abraham had massacred thousands of Christianised Arabs.
Therefore, the Arabs who were extremely tolerant in matters of belief could not but have looked askance at
the very name of Abraham. 2 Yet the Prophet proclaimed that the Arabs were the progeny of Abraham

through his elder son, Ismael! He went much farther. He ^discovered^ that the foremost Arab temple,

the Ka^ba at Mecca, had been built by Adam, renovated by his son, Seth, and rebuilt by Abraham! He
accused the Arabs of having usurped, for polytheistic worship, a place which was originally meant to be a
mosque! The theologians and historians who followed, abolished the real forefathers of the Arabs
altogether and linked them to lineage of the Jews. Small wonder that every comprehensive history of
Arabia written by pious Muslim chroniclers starts with Adam and Eve, and fills its spaces with the progeny
of Abraham.-

This Islamic version of Arab history would have continued to prevail if modern scholarship had not rescued
the true version by means of painstaking research. ^Our knowledge of the history, writes F. Hommel,

^>we owe partly to inscriptions found in the country, partly in contemporary literatures and monuments of
other nations (Babylonians and Assyrians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans) and partly also (for
the centuries immediately preceding Muhammad) to early Islamic tradition^ As early as the 3rd
millennium BC the old Babylonian inscriptions mention a king Manium (also in the fuller form
Mannudannu) or Magan of East Arabia; there is much to be said for the view that Magan was only a

Sumerian rendering of an Arabic Ma^an and that from this centre was founded (at a date unknown to us)
the South Arabian kingdom of Ma^an (later vocalisation Ma^in) or the Minaean state which perhaps in

the beginning embraced the whole of South Arabia^ In addition a district named Melukh is mentioned as
lying further off, probably covering Central and North West Arabia from which as well as from Magan the
Sumerians e.g. Gudea of Sirgulla (about 2350 BC) imported a large quantity of products (wood, stone and

metals) for their temples^

The same sources tell us about the Sabaeans who flourished in Arabia from 800 BC onwards, till they were
^swept away by the wave of Muhammadan conquest. They practised ^>an ancient natural religion^ in
which 4>the sun, the moon and the planets^ figured prominently. They ^believed in the migration of the
soul and in great world periods constantly renewed in an everlasting revolutions,^ which remind us of the
Hindu theories of rebirth and the yugas. They built ^massive temples^ and ^handsome gold and silver
statues of their chief gods.^ The Greeks and the Romans knew ^Saba and three other South Arabian
kingdoms^ as the areas which produce frankincense, myrrh, cassia and cinnamon^- and praised them
^as brave soldiers, industrious tillers of the soil and traders and skilful sailors^ who ^sent out colonies
or at least trading settlements into foreign lands, especially India. Modern archaeology has exposed

^►sculptures and remains of colonnades, palaces, temples, city walls, towers, public works, especially
water-works etc., which confirm the brilliant picture of Sabaean cultured^

Similar is the story of the Nabataeans who arose in North Arabia or Arabia Petraea about the same time as
the Sabaeans in Arabia Flex or South Arabia, and extended their sway upto the frontiers of Hijaz. They

were ^never completely subjected either by the Assyrians, or the Medes, Persians or the Mecedonian

kings. ^ It was the Romans who conquered for the first time a part of the Nabataean kingdom in the north

in AD 106 and named it Provincia Arabia. The Nabataeans too were great traders who ^attained^ the

position of monopolists in Near Asia.^ In their pantheon, which we know ^mainly from tombs and

votive inscriptions^ the principal God was Dushara (Dhu^l-Shara), the principal goddess Allat. ^

None of the Minaean or Sabaean or Nabataean inscriptions mentions Abraham or Ismael or any term
indicative of the Judeo-Christian belief system which Muhammad will impose on the Arabs in the form of
Islam. It is only towards the end of the pagan period that a South Arabian inscription dated AD 542-543

mentions for the first time ^►the power and grace and mercy of the Merciful ( RaHmanan) and his Messiah

and the Holy Spirit. ^ 1 The inscription was set up by Abraha, the Governor of South Arabia, on behalf of
the Christian king of Abyssinia. How Abraha became what he became is an interesting story which
explains the repugnance felt by the pagan Arabs for both Judaism and Christianity, as also for the names
and terms associated with these creeds.

The Monophysite sect of Christianity had found refuge in Najran, a province of South Arabia, after it was
expelled by the official Church from the Byzantine territory in the reign of Justinian I (AD 527-565). Some
Arabs of Najran had also become converts to Christianity. Around the same time, Dhu Nuwas, king of
Yemen which included Najran, had embraced Judaism. He declared war on the Christians of Najran when

he found them unwilling to come into the fold of his own creed. ^►Dhu Nuwas, ^ writes Ibn Ishaq,

^came against them with his armies and invited them to accept Judaism, giving them the choice between
that or death: they chose death. So he dug trenches for them; burnt some in fire, slew some with the sword,
and mutilated them until he had killed nearly twenty thousand of them.4^

The Christians of Najran appealed for help to the Negus, the Christian king of Abyssinia. An Abyssinian
army under Aryat descended on Yemen, defeated and killed Dhu Nuwas, and occupied the land. Under
orders from the Negus, a third of the women and children of Yemen were captured, sent to Abyssinia, and
sold into slavery.— The Arabs who had embraced Judaism were massacred. In due course, Abraha
succeeded Aryat as the Abyssinian Governor of Yemen. He set up the aforementioned Christian

inscription. Later on, he swore that he would destroy the Ka^ba, the foremost temple of the pagan Arabs.

He led an army to Mecca in AD 570, the same year in which Muhammad was born. The Ka^ba, however,
escaped unhurt because of a miracle which turned away the Abyssinian horde and which the Arabs credited
to Allah, the presiding deity of their pantheon. Meanwhile, the pagan Arabs had had a first hand experience
of what Judaism and Christianity stood for.

The religious strife which these alien creeds had brought to Arabia was unknown to the pre-Islamic Arabs
who, like all pagans, were very liberal in matters of belief and modes of worship. They witnessed how the
two exclusive creeds had combined to cause not only large-scale bloodshed but also a foreign invasion,
entailing enslavement of Arab women and children and occupation of Arab territory by an alien army. The

name of Abraham was associated with both the creeds, as also the word &RaHman 4>. Naturally, the Arabs
could not be expected to be fond of either the name or the word.

The historians of Islam mention Abrahams march on Mecca, as also his frustration and retreat in the face

of a miracle. But they conceal the fact that the Ka^ba at that time was a place of pagan worship crowded
with numerous idols of Gods and Goddesses. Instead, they lie and credit the miracle to the God of
Abraham. That God, however, was nowhere near the Ka^ba during that period. Allah who presided over
the pagan pantheon had not yet been hijacked by Muhammad and converted into the exclusive God of
Islam. In fact, it was the pagan character of the Ka^ba which had invited the attack by a Christian
iconoclast. And it was the God of the pagans who had performed the miracle.

Character of Pre-Islamic Arabs

Modern scholars have not only salvaged pre-Islamic Arab history; they have also pieced together a picture
of the pagan Arabs among whom Muhammad was born. For the latter purpose they have had to depend
solely on Islamic sources. They have done a creditable job in view of the fact that these sources were
deliberately intended to black out or blacken whatever functioned in Arabia before the birth of Islam. They
have succeeded in gleaning some good glimpses of people who stood up to Muhammad and challenged his
claim of monopoly over truth. The material they have collected is meagre. Yet it does help us meet some
men and women of sterling character and heroic bearing. The adversaries of Muhammad score over him
and his companions hands down so far as qualities of head and heart are concerned.

This is not the occasion to go into greater detail about the shape of pre-Islamic society and culture in
Arabia. In the present context, we have to confine ourselves to its pre-Islamic religion which Muhammad

destroyed root and branch and replaced with alien prescriptions. So far as Muhammad^s adversaries are
concerned, let a professor from Pakistan speak, even though his views are coloured considerably by the
historical lore of Islam:

^Although religion had little influence on the lives of pre-Islamic Arabs,— we must not suppose them to
be an altogether lawless people. The pagan society of ancient Arabia was built on certain moral ideas,
which may be briefly described here. They had no written code, religious or legal, except the compelling
force of traditional custom which was enforced by public opinion; but their moral and social ideals have
been faithfully preserved in their poetry, which is the only form of literature which has come down to us
from those old days.

^>The virtues most highly prized by the ancient Arabs were bravery in battle, patience in misfortune,

loyalty to oriels fellow tribesmen, generosity to the needy and the poor, hospitality to the guest and the
wayfarer, and persistence in revenge. Courage in battle and fortitude in warfare were particularly required
in a land where might was generally right and tribes were constantly engaged in attacking one another. It is,
therefore, not a mere chance that in the famous anthology of Arabian verse, called the Hamasah , poems
relating to inter-tribal warfare occupy more than half of the book. These poems applaud the virtues most
highly prized by the Arabs-bravery in battle, patience in hardship, defiance of the strong, and persistence in
revenge.

^The tribal organization of the Arabs was then, as now, based on the principle of kinship or common
blood, which served as the bond of union and social solidarity. To defend the family and the tribe,
individually and collectively, was, therefore, regarded as a sacred duty; and honour required that a man
should stand by his people through thick and thin. If kinsmen sought help, it was to be given promptly,
without considering the merits of the case. Chivalrous devotion and disinterested self-sacrifice on behalf of

their Kinsmen and friends were, therefore, held up as a high ideal of life. ^

The king of Persia had said to one of the pre-Islamic Arab princes that the latter^ s people were inferior to
every other people. The prince had replied, ^What nation could be put before the Arabs for strength or

beauty or piety, courage, munificence, wisdom, pride, or fidelity? ^ So liberal was he that he would
slaughter the camel which was his sole wealth to give a meal to the stranger who came to him at night. No
other nation had poetry so elaborate or a language so expressive as theirs. Theirs were the noblest horses,

the chastest women, the finest raiment^ For their camels no distance was too far, no desert too wild to

traverse. So faithful were they to the ordinances of their religion that if a man met his father^s murderer
unarmed in one of the sacred months he would not harm him. A sign or look from one of them constituted
an engagement which was absolutely inviolable^ If other nations obeyed a central government and a
single ruler, the Arabs required no such institution, each of them being fit to be a king, and well able to
protect himself, and unwilling to undergo the humiliation of paying tribute or hearing rebuke.^ One is
reminded of the republican clans in north Uttar Pradesh and Bihar among whom the Buddha was born, as
also of those in Punjab and Sindh who robbed Alexander of his reputation of invincibility when they

blunted his sword and turned him back. The Arabs who got regimented as Muhammad^s mujahids (holy
warriors) lost this sense of honour and love of freedom. Treachery towards whomsoever the Prophet chose
as his enemy, became their stock-in-trade. On the other hand, a mere frown from the Prophet made them
cringe and crawl.

If a society and culture is to be judged by the status of its women, the pre-Islamic Arabs come out with
flying colours. The very fact that they had many Goddesses in their pantheon, made them give a place of

pride to their women. ^Institutions of paganism,^ observes Margoliouth, ^were not unfavourable to the
prominence of those women who had the requisite gifts of courage or insight. And the ensuing narrative
will show examples of women acting with originality and resolution, when there was room for the display

of these qualities.^— Muhammad^>s first wife, Khadijah, provides an excellent example of the
independence which women enjoyed, and the enterprise they could display in the pre-Islamic Arab society.
She was not only a wealthy merchant who managed her own business; she was also in a position to turn
down proposals from powerful suitors and marry the man of her own choice. Hind, the wife of

Muhammad^s chief adversary, Abu Sufyan, was herself a firebrand who opposed Muhammad, tooth and
nail. She followed her husband to the battlefield and sustained his morale in peace. When Abu Sufyan
surrendered Mecca to Muhammad without a fight, she caught hold of him in the market-place and cried,

^►Kill this fat greasy bladder of lard! What a rotten protector of the people! She was at her best when
circumstances forced her to embrace Islam. The Prophet who baptised her asked her not to commit
adultery. ^Does a free woman commit adultery, O apostle of God?^ she asked. Next, the Prophet advised
her not to ^kill your children.^ She said, brought them up when they were little and you killed them

on the day of Badr when they were grown up, so you are the one to know about them. ^ 1 It was Islam
which robbed women of their high station in society and put them behind the veil or buried them in the
harem. Ever since, the language of Islam has bracketed women ( zan ) with personal property
(zar and zamiri) of the male. Chapters on marriage ( nikah ) and divorce ( taldq ) in orthodox collections

of Hadis, and other standard works such as the Hiddya and the Fatwa-i- $Alamgtrt , tell the true story of
what Islam has done to women.

But the one great virtue for which the pre-Islamic Arabs put the Prophet and his companions to shame, was
their catholicity in matters of religious belief and practice. The respect they showed towards other

peopled persuasions was fully in keeping with their pagan spiritual tradition. Ibn Ishaq testifies, ^>When
the apostle openly displayed Islam as God ordered him, his people did not withdraw or turn against him, so
far as I have heard, until he spoke disparagingly of their gods.^> - The Meccans made a very reasonable

offer when Abu Talib, Muhammaduncle and protector, was on his death-bed. ^ You know,^ they
said, ^the trouble that exists between us and your nephew, so call him and let us make an agreement that
he will leave us alone and we will leave him alone; let him have his religion and we will have ours.^> It
was Muhammad who remained adamant. ^ You must say,^ he demanded, ^There is no God but Allah

and you must repudiate what you worship beside him. - It cannot be held against the Meccans that they
refused to be bullied. Abu Talib himself stands out as an embodiment of the pagan virtue in this respect. He
protected Muhammad to the end, without himself agreeing to renounce the religion of his forefathers. His
only fault-and that has been the fault of all pagans-was his failure to understand that what his nephew was
selling was not religion but something else.

It is, therefore, nothing short of slanderous to say that the pre-Islamic Arabs were barbarians devoid of
religion and culture, unless we mean by religion and culture what the Muslim theologians mean. They were
nothing of the sort. The fact that they failed to understand the ways of Muhammad and could not match his
mailed fist in the final round, should not be held against them. It was neither for the first nor the last time
that a democratic society succumbed in the face of determined gangsterism. We know how Lenin, Hitler
and Mao Tse-tung succeeded in our own times. Nor should the image of what the Arabs became after they
were forced into the fold of Islam be confused with what they were before. The crimes committed by the
Islmaized Arabs should not be blamed on the pagan Arabs. For it was Islam which brutalized the Arabs and
turned them into bloodthirsty bandits who spread fire and sword, far and wide. In the majority of mankind,
the baser drives of human nature are never far from the threshold. Islam brought them to the fore in case of
the majority of Arabs.

Footnotes:

- First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936, Leiden, 1987, Vol. VII, P. 15.

- See D.S. Margoliouth, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, London, 1905, New Delhi Reprint.
1985, p. 73, ^>To the Meccans,^ he says, ^>he [Abraham] was not even a name.^

- Converts to Islam in every other land follow the pattern. They disown their real forefathers and
link themselves to this or that tribe of Jews or Arabs. Muslims of Afghanistan and Kashmir for
instance regard themselves as descended from some lost tribes of Israel. Muslims of Bangladesh
have produced learned treatises tracing their descent to Islamized invaders. But for the labours of
Firdawsi, the Muslims of Iran would not have known that their infidel forefathers were great and
glorious.

- First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 377.

- The Encyclopaedia Americana, New York, 1952, Vol. XXIV, p. 77.

- First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VII, p. 5.

- Ibid., p. 7.

- Ibid., p. 17.

2 Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 801.

— Ibid., p. 802.

— Ibid., Vol. I, p. 377.

— Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah, translated into English by A. Gillaumne, OUP, Karachi, Seventh
Impression, p. 17. Ibn Ishaq (d. AD 767) was the first biographer of Muhammad.

— Ibid., p 19.

— This statement has no basis, as we shall see. The pagan Arabs fought Muhammad in defence of
a religion which they cherished. They had no other reason to quarrel with the Prophet.

— Shaikh Inayatullah, former Professor of Arabic in the University of the Punjab, Lahore, ^>Pre-

Islamic Arabian Thought^, an article in A History of Muslim Philosophy, edited by M.M. Sharif,
Lahore, 1961, Vol. I, pp. 133-34. The legend of Hatim Tayy, poet and knight, is still popular
among Muslims. He represents the ^ ideal type of the Pre-Muhammadan Arab^ because he
^displayed in a high degree the virtues of Muruwa. particularly hospitality and liberality in the
practice of which he paid no regard to his own needs His ^generosity has become
proverbial^ (First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 290.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit, pp. 2-3.

— Ibid., p. 30.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 548.

— Ibid., p. 533. It is a despicable he that the pre-Islamic Arabs killed their children. Muhammad
asked the Arabs not to commit this crime simply because the Jewish prophets had spoken against
it, and not because he saw the Arabs committing it. Hind gave a fitting reply.

— Ibid., op. cit., p. 118. Muslim apologists may say that abusing other peopled Gods not
intolerance because that is what Islam means. But that is a different proposition.

— Ibid., p. 191-92.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
RELIGION OF PAGAN ARABIA

The Islamic sources do tell us that the pre-Islamic Arabs were mushriks(po\ytheists) ^addicted^ to

worshipping numerous idols. But they do not inform us as to what those idols symbolized. The Qur^an
(2.257, 259; 4.52; 53.19; 71.21) mentions some idols but only to denounce them. We reproduce below what
Ibn Ishaq writes about them:

^>They say that the beginning of stone worship among the sons of Ishmael was when Mecca became too
small for them and they wanted more room in the country. Everyone who left the town took with him a
stone from the sacred area to do honour to it. Wherever they settled they set it up and walked round it as

they went round the Ka^ba. This led them to worship what stones they pleased and those which made an

impression on them. Thus as generations passed they forgot their primitive faith and adopted another
religion for that of Abraham and Ishmael. They worshipped idols and adopted the same errors as the
peoples before them. Yet they retained and held fast practices going back to the time of Abraham, such as

honouring the temple and going round it, the great and little pilgrimage, and the standing on ^ Arat'a and
Muzdalifa, sacrificing the victims, and the pilgrim cry at the great and little pilgrimage, while introducing
elements which had no place in the religion of Abraham. Thus, Kinana and Quraysh used the pilgrim

cry: ^At Thy service, O God, at Thy service! At Thy service. Thou without an associate but the, associate
Thou hast. Thou ownest him and what he owns. ^ They used to acknowledge his unity in their cry and then
include their idols with God, putting the ownership of them in His hand 1

^The people of Noah had images to which they were devoted. God told His apostle about them when He
said: ^ And they said. Forsake not your gods; forsake not Wudd and Suwa^ and Yaghuth and Ya^Kiq and
Nasr. And they had led many astray.^

^ Among those who had chosen those idols and used their names as compounds when they forsook the
religion of Ishmael-both Ishmaelites and others-was Hudhayl b. Mudrika b. Ilyas b. MuDar. They adopted
Suwa^> and they had him in RuhaT; and Kalb b. Wabra of QuDa^a who adopted Wudd in Dumatu^l-
Jandal^

An^>um of Tayyi^ and the people of Jurash of MadhHij adopted Yaghuth in Jurash.
hay wan, a clan of Hamdan, adopted Ya^uq in the land of Hamdan in the Yaman.

4>Dhu^l-Kala^ of Himyar adopted Nasr in the Himyar country.

^►Khaulan had an idol called ^Ammanas in the Khaulan country^

^>The B. Milkan b. Kinana b. Khuzayma b. Mudrika b. Ilyas b. MuDar had an image called Sa^d, a lofty
rock in a desert plain in their country^

^Daus had an idol belonging to ^Amr b. Humama al-Dausi.

^Quraysh had an idol by a well in the middle of the Ka^ba called Hubal. And they adopted Isaf (or Asaf)
and Na^ila by the place of Zamzam, sacrificing beside them^>

^►Every household had an idol in their house which they used to worship. When a man was about to set out
on a journey he would rub himself against it as he was about to ride off: indeed that was the last thing he
used to do before his journey; and when he returned from his journey the first thing he did was to rub

himself against it before he went in to his family^

^►Now along with the Ka^ba the Arabs had adopted Tawaghit, which were temples which they venerated
as they venerated the Ka^ba. They had their guardians and overseers and they used to make offerings to

them as they did to the Ka^ba and to circumambulate them and sacrifice at them. Yet they recognized the
superiority of the Ka^ba because it was the temple and mosque of Abraham the friend (of God).

^►Quraysh and the B. Kinana had al-^MJzza in Nakhla, its guardians and overseers were the B. Shayban of
Sulaym, allies of the B. Hashinr^

^Al-Lat belonged to Thaqif in Ta^Hf, her overseers and guardians being B. Mu^attih of Thaqif.-

^ Manat was worshipped by al-Aus and al-Khazraj and such of the people of Yathrib- as followed their
religion by the seashore in the direction of al-Mushallal in Qudayd.-

^►Dhu^M-KhalaSa belonged to Daus, KhaTh^am, and Bajila and the Arabs in their area in Tabala^
^Fals belonged to Tayyi ^ and those hard by in the two mountains of Tayyi^, Salma and Aja^.
^Himyar and the Yamanites had a temple in San^a called Ri^am.

^RuDa^ was a temple of B. Rabija b. Ka^b b. Sa^d b. Zayd b. Manat b. Tamim^

^►Dhu^l-Ka^abat belonged to Bakr and Taghlib the two sons of Wa^il and Iyad in Sindad^^-

Hisham bin Muhammad al-Kalbi (d. AD 819) wrote a whole book, Kitdb al-ASnam,- describing what tribe
worshipped what idol, at what place, and in what manner. But he did not know what those idols stood for.

F. Krenkow comments: ^From the description of the idols worshipped by the pre-Islamic Arabs,
enumerated by Ibn al-Kalbi, the word Sanam appears to apply to objects of very varying character. Some
were actual sculptures like Hubal, Isaf and Nai^la; so were the other idols set up round the Ka^ba^

Others were trees like al-^Uzza and many were mere stones like al-Lat. Stones are well-known as objects
of worship by the Semites in general and the traditionist al-Darimi states early in the first chapter of
his Musnad that in the time of paganism the Arabs, whenever they found a stone remarkable for its shape,
colour or size, set it up as an object of worship. Ibn al-Kalbi states that the Arabs were not content with

setting up stones for idols, but even took such stones with them on their journeys

This portrait of the pagan Arabs as primitive fetishists would have remained fixed for all time to come but
for the non-Islamic sources which have been studied in recent times. The discovery of numerous
inscriptions, particularly in South Arabia, has forced even Muslim scholars to revise their opinion to a
certain extent. Shaikh Inayatullah writes:

^►These Arabian deities, which were of diverse nature, fell into different categories. Some of them were

personifications of abstract ideas, such as jadd (luck), sa 4>d (fortunate, auspicious), riDci & (good-will,
favour ),wadd (friendship, affection), and mandf (height, highplace). Though originally abstract in character,
they were conceived in a thoroughly concrete fashion. Some deities derived their names from the places
where they were venerated. Dhu al-KhalaSah and Dhu al-Shara may be cited as examples of this kind.

4>The heavenly bodies and other powers of nature, venerated as deities, occupied an important place in the
Arabian pantheon. The sun (shams, regarded as feminine) was worshipped by several Arab tribes and was
honoured with a sanctuary and an idol. The name 4 > Abd Shams, ^Servant of the Sun,4^ was found in
many parts of the country. The sun was referred to by descriptive tides also, such as shariq, 4^the brilliant
one. 4> The constellation of the Pleiades ( al-Tliurayya ), which was believed to bestow rain, also appears as
a deity in the name 4 > Abd al-Thurayya. The planet Venus, which shines with remarkable brilliance in the
clear skies of Arabia, was revered as a great goddess under the name of al-4HJzza, which may be translated

as 4^the Most Mighty. 4^ It had a sanctuary at Nakhlah near Mecca. The name 4> Abd al-4HJzza was very
common among the pre-Islamic Arabs. The Arabian cult of the planet Venus has been mentioned by
several classical and Syriac authors. 4k "

The pre-Islamic Arab religion was, however, far more profound. As in the case of every pagan people, the
pagan Arabs perceived divinity in everything in their environment, terrestrial as well as celestial. This will
become clear as we take up the Arab Gods and Goddesses, one by one. Here we want to mention that the
Minaeans, the Sabaeans and the Nabataeans worshipped more of less the same divinities, mostly under the
same, though sometimes differing, names.

4^ First of all,4> writes H. Hommel, 4>as regards the religion of the South Arabians, as we find it in their
inscriptions, it is a strongly marked star-worship, in which the cult of the moon-god, conceived as
masculine, takes complete precedence of that of the sun, which is conceived as feminine. This is shown in

the clearest fashion by the stereotyped series of gods (Minaean: 4> Athar, Wadd, Nakruh, Shams;
HaDramawtic: 4>Athar, Sin, Hoi, Shams; Qata-banian: 4>Athar, 4lAmm, Anbai, Shams; Sabaean:

4 > Athar, Hawbas, Al-maku-hu, Shams); here we find throughout, a. 4 ^ Athar (the planet Venus conceived
as masculine^ as symbol of the sky) the god of the heavens mentioned first, b. Wadd or as the case may
be. Sin, 4>Amm or Hawbas the real chief god i.e. the moon; c. Nakruh (the planet Saturn or Mars), or Hoi,

Anbai (messenger of the gods, Nebo) or Almaku-hu, his (the moon4>s) servant or messenger, and finally,
d. Shams, the daughter of the moon-god to whom women may have appealed by preference and who
therefore stands at the end of the whole enumeration. Besides these, a certain part was played by a great
Mother-goddesses, the mother and consort of the moon-god conceived as a personified lunar station, the
Minaean Athirat, who was called Harimtu among the Sabaeans and who was in all probability universally
known as Ilat (e.g. as a component part in names of persons, also in the shortened form Lat). We may also

mention various lesser 4^ Athar deities (confined later to the part played by Venus as morning or evening
star), and among the West Sabaeans Ta4Hab, a god of the bow who also bears merely the epithet Dhu

Samawi 4^ lord of the heaveans4>, and to whom especially camels (ibil) are ,sacred (hence in Midian but
probably in South Arabia Habul or Hubal etc.). It is a particularly favourite mode of thought to conceive
the two chief aspects of the moon (waxing and waning moon) as twin deities, in which connection

sometimes the one and sometimes the other phase is specially favoured according to the locality 4> 4>—

He continues: 4Mn North West Arabia from Mekka onwards to Petra and further onwards to the Syrian
desert (Palmyra) and the Hawran, the same ideas prevailed, partly even appearing under the old names
partly with new designations. Here we have especially to do with the cults of Mekka and of the whole
Hidjaz shortly before Muhammad (al-Lat and Hubal, in certain cases also al-Lat, and Wudd, in addition al-

4>Uzza, a feminine form of 4^ Aziz-Lat, the goddess of death Manat, a god RuDa and others) and at an
earlier period the still more important cult of the Nabataeans. Among the latter also we find the moon

divided into twin deities: Dhu Shara (^He of the mountain^) and his Kharisha (the sun); the former
especially in Petra and Habul (or Hubal) and his consort Manawat; further also the Mother-goddess Ilat and
a god A^araa (^Hie with the white mark on his forehead,^ originally perhaps only an epithet of
Dusares)^^

He concludes: ^But we may point out in conclusion that in all probability the Greeks borrowed— from
Arabian incense merchants their Apollo and his mother Leto as also Dionysos and Hermes, in the same
way as they took their additional letters Phi, Chi and Psi from the South Arabian alphabet^ This would
seem to prove definitively that South Arabian civilization with its gods, incense altars, inscriptions, forts
and castles must have been in a flourishing condition as early as the beginning of the first millennium

BC.^-

Being at par with or even superior to the Greek pantheon, the Arab pantheon acquires a prestige which is
seldom conceded to it except by scholars who have studied the subject. One reason is that the literature in
which the Greek Gods and Goddesses figure has survived to a large extent, while the pre-Islamic Arab
literature has disappeared more or less completely, so much so that even specialists find it difficult to
believe that the pagan Arabs had any literature at all. Secondly, the Renaissance in Europe has restored the
prestige of the Greek heritage, while people who feel the same pride in the pre-Islamic Arab heritage have
yet to come foreward.

The Pagan Arab Pantheon

Now we can take up, in greater detail, individual Arab Gods and Goddesses, starting with the one who
presided over the pantheon.

Al-Lah

The name Allah has become so much identified with Islam as to rule out any suspicion that he was the
Great God of the pagan Arabs. & Allah, in the Safa inscriptions, Hallah , ^the god &, enters into the
composition of numerous personal names among the Nabataeans and other Northern Arabs of an early
period e.g. Zaid Alldht, ^increase of God^ (that is increase of the family through the son given by

God), 0Abd Alldht , and so forth. Among the heathen Arabs Allah is extremely common, both by itself and
in theophorous names. Wellhausen cites a large number of passages in which pre-Islamic Arabs mention
Allah as a great deity; and even if we strike out certain passages (for instance on the ground that the text
has been altered by Muhammadan scribes) so many still remain over, and so many more which are above
suspicion can without difficulty be found, that the fact is clearly established. Moreover, Allah forms an
integral part of various idiomatic phrases which were in constant use among the heathen Arabs. Of special

importance is the terminology of the Qur^an, which proves beyond all doubt that the heathen Arabs
themselves regarded Allah as the Supreme Being. The Nabataen inscriptions mention repeatedly the name
of a deity accompanied by a title Alalia , ^the god^. ^ 11

The Qur^an (13.17;29.61, 63;41.24;39.39; 43.87) itself provides ample evidence that the pre-Islamic
Arabs regarded Allah as ^the creator and supreme provider^ and ^assigned to him a separate position

distinct from that of all other deities (6.137).^> Here it becomes difficult ^>to distinguish between their
views and the interpretation of their views adopted by Muhammad, especially their vocabulary and that of

Muhammad. It will be seen, then, that whatever may have been the origin of the names applied, the religion
of Mecca in Muhammad^s time was far from simple idolatry. Both sides seem to say the same things

about Allah. ^But though the name was the same for the Meccans and for Muhammad, their conception of
the bearer of the name must have differed widely. The Meccans evidently had in general no fear of him; the
fear of Allah was an element in Muhammad^s creed^ The Meccans did not hesitate to disregard him and
to cultivate the minor gods; Muhammad knew him as a jealous and vindictive sovereign who would
assuredly judge and condemn in the end^^>

It is significant that while the sources, Islamic as well as others, mention idols of many Gods and
Goddesses in the Ka^ba and elsewhere, they nowhere mention an idol of Allah. The only explanation is
that every God and Goddesses was seen by the pagan Arabs as representing Allah who could be prayed to
through any one of them. In fact, the Meccans pointed out to Muhammad (Qur^an 6.149; 37.68)
that ^ Allah had never forbidden them to worship other gods with him.^ — Ibn Ishaq reports that

^►Abdu^H-Muttalib ^stood by Hubal praying to Allah.^ The Qur^an is never tired of saying that
those whom the idolaters associate with Allah will not intercede for them on the last day. For the pagan
Arabs, however, Allah is no other than his associates; he is them and they are he. Of course, the pagans
have no notion of the last day when alone Allah will visit them; instead, they are aware of him every
moment of their lives. He is present not in some high heaven but in and around them, in many names and

forms. The character which the Qur^an assigns to Allah must have looked like a prison-house to the pagan
Arabs; their Allah could not be contained in concepts created by the external and shallow mind of man, nor
was he helplessly dependent upon the services of a prophet.

The pagan poets ^Hiad already developed in Arabic a vivid power of wielding descriptive epithets vis-a-vis

Allah. — Many of the ninety-nine names ( Asma ^al-Husnu) which Muslim theologians mention, can be
found in pagan poetry. Most probably, Allah had many more names, may be a thousand, in the pagan
parlance. It has been characteristic of pagan spirituality everywhere that it adorns with numerous names
and forms whatever it adores. Muhammad retained only those names which did not offend his monotheism,
and dropped the rest. He also added names which did not square with the pagan perception of Allah but
which went very well with the Allah of his conception. AI-MuTakabbir , the Haughty, looks like one such

name. Al-Muntaqim, the Avenger, is another. The most typical of Muhammad^s contributions, however,
is al-Mughni, the Enricher, that is, by means of booty which includes, we may remember, the women and
children of those who become victims of Jihad. Small wonder that one of the names of

Muhammad^s Allah is al-Zarr, the Distresser. We find that the Qur^an (58.11) uses the same name for
Satan. As we shall see, that is exactly what Allah came to mean in the doctrine as well as the history of
Islam.

The two names, ar-RaHman, the Compassionate, and al-RaHim , the Merciful, are the most frequent in
Muhammad^s usage. They stand at the head of every Sura of the Qur^an except one. There is nothing
intrinsically offensive in these names when applied to Allah. In fact, they are more appropriate for the
Allah of the pagan Arabs than for the Allah of Islam. Yet the Meccans found them the most objectionable.

Muhammad had tacked them to Allah while dictating to ^ AI i the draft of the treaty at Hudaybiya. The
Meccan representative protested and had them dropped. ^Then the apostle,narrates Ibn Ishaq,
^summoned ^>Ali and told him to write the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful.^
Subayl said ^>1 do not recognize this; but write thy name, O Allah. ^ The apostle told him to write
the latter and he did so. - This was not the only occasion when the Meccans showed their repugnance for

these names. They had all along accused Muhammad of importing alien names and imposing them upon
Allah. To them these names were Jewish and the Jews had been in league with Muhammad so far as

Arabians ancient religion and culture were concerned. They saw these names as symbols of the new¬
fangled creed which Muhammad was trying to foist on them. On the other hand, Muhammad insisted on
using these names because, in his mind, they embodied all that he stood for.

Incidentally, ^Traditions assign two hundred names to Muhammad. 4k —It seems that the Prophet grew in
size at the expense of Allah who was made to look smaller and smaller. That was quite in keeping with the
Prophet^s own image of himself. He was out to block everyone else^s access to Allah while proclaiming
himself as Habib Allah, an-Nabi, ar-Rasul and Khatim al-Anbiya. So it was no more sufficient that one
believed in Allah; one had also to believe in Muhammad as the only channel through which Allah^s will
could be known. It was inevitable that, in due course, the Prophet became more important than the
contrived god in whose name he spoke.

Al-Malik

There were other deities ^ whose titles themselves seem to designate them as occupying a position of
supreme importance in the eyes of the worshippers.^ Al-Malik, ^the King,^ was the name of such a
deity. the days of Islam, al-Malik became one of the epithets of Allah, and hence the name &Abd al-
Malik survives among Muhammadans.^ -

Ba^l or Ba^al

^>The divine title Ba^M or Ba^al, ^►the lord,^ which was very common among the Northern Semites,
survived among the Arabs of the Sinai Peninsula in the form al-Ba &lu which occurs in their inscriptions
together with the proper names &Abd al-Ba &lt, Aus al-Ba &lt, ^gift of the Lord,^> and Gann al-Ba

probably 4>act of the Lord. ^ A trace of the worship of this god may be found in Sharaf al-Ba 4k!, the
name of a place between Medina and Syria. The Arabs of later times were not aware that any such deity
had existed, but certain phrases in their language clearly prove that he had once been known. Thus the term

^►soil ofBa &l 4k or simply &Ba 4k! 4k is applied to land which does not require irrigation, but has an
underground water supply, and therefore yields fruit of the best quality. In this case the god seems to be
regarded as the lord of the cultivated larul^ Again, the verb ha 4kla and other derivatives ofBa 4kl mean
^►to be bewildered,^ properly ^>to be seized by the god Ba^l^.^ =

El

4k Among the Northern Arabs of early times, particularly in the region of Safa, the word El, ^>God,^> was
still very commonly used as a separate name of the Deity. It is true that it does not actually occur except in
compound proper names of persons, Wahb El, and many others. Some of these such as Wahbil, ^gift of

El,^> Abdil , ^Servant of El,^> appear among the Arabs of a later age but at least in certain cases they must
have been borrowed from the Sabaean language, while in other cases they are restricted to the extreme

north of Arabia. It may be added that the divine name Iayal, which occurs once in an ancient verse, is
possibly a plural of majesty formed from El; Uwal is a variation of the same name.—

^>The names commonly used in dynasties, or distinguished families, who originally came from districts
where Sabaean or some other peculiar dialect of southern Arabia was spoken, had naturally a tendency to
spread among the Arabs in general.^—

AI-Lat

^The Sun-god who according to Strabo (784) was held in especial honour by the Nabataeans, is very
probably to be identified with Allat^ We have already seen that the sun is properly feminine in Arabic and
in most other Semitic languages; hence the name Allat which so far as we can judge means simply ^the
Goddess,is particularly suited in this case.^> The Greek historian, Herodotus, mentions an Arabian

Goddess named Alilat. ^That Alilat is identical with Allat, a goddess frequently mentioned, has long been
an acknowledged fact. References to Allat were found in several Nabataean inscriptions; in one of them she
is called the ^Mother of Gods.^ Moreover, proper names compounded with Allat appear both among the
Nabataeans and the Palmyrenes^ Among the later Arabs this goddess was no less venerated. In the
Qur^an (liii.50) she is one of the three daughters of Allah. She is also mentioned occasionally in poetry.
Thus one poet says: ^1 swear to him, in the presence of the throng, by the salt, by the fire, and by Allat
who is the greatest of all. ^ Of the names compounded with Allat, which were widely diffused, some at
least must be of considerable antiquity ^The cult of the goddess flourished, in particular, at the sanctuary
of Ta^if, a town to the east of Mecca; the tribe of Thaquif, who dwelt in that district spoke of her as the
^mistress^,^ - that is, al-Rabba.— Among the Lihyan, a branch of the Hudhail, settled in the country
north-east of Mecca, Allat was worshipped ^alongside typically Arab^ deities. —

Manat

^Some Arabian deities were originally personifications of abstract ideas ^ Time in the abstract was
popularly imagined to be the cause of all earthly happiness and especially of all earthly misery. Muhammad
in the Qur^an (Sura xlv. 23) blames the unbelievers for saying, ^It is Time that destroys us.^ Her main
sanctuary was a black stone among the Hudailis in Qudaid, not far from Mecca on the road to Medina near
a bill called Mushallal. She was however worshipped by many Arab tribes, primarily the Aws and Khazradj

in Yathrib.— In Mecca she was very popular along with the goddesses al-Lat and al-^MJzza; the three
(according to the Qur^an) were regarded as Allah^s daughters, and in a weak moment Muhammad

declared their worship permitted (cf. Sura liii. 19 sqq.)^ According to Ibn al-Kalbi, she was the oldest
deity whose worship gave rise to that of the others, because names compounded with Manat occur earlier
than other theophoric names. Another view is found in Ibn Hisham, p.145, where ^the two daughters of
^►Uzza are Manat and al-Lat.^ As an independent deity we find her in the Nabataen inscriptions of al-
Hidjr^ Manat is connected in a peculiar way by some writers with the great liadjdj , for we are told that

several tribes including the Aws and Khazradj assumed the ihram at the sanctuary of Manat and on
conclusion of the rites cut their hair and dropped the ihram

The character of the Goddess can be inferred from her name. In Axabicmaniya (plural, manaya) means
^the alloted, fate, doom of death, destruction^. Manat, therefore, was primarily the Goddess of Time.
^>The poets are continually alluding to the action of Time (dahr, zaman ) for which they often substitute
^>the days,^ or knights. ^ Time is represented as bringing misfortune, causing perpetual change, as
biting, wearing down, shooting arrows that never miss the mark, hurling stones, and so forth ^

Occasionally we come across such passages as the following: ^>Time has brought woe upon him, for the
days and the (alloted) measure (qadar) have caused him to perish.^ Various expressions are used by the
poets in speaking of the ^portion ^ alloted to them or the goal that is set before them^> Once we meet
with the phrase ^till it be seen what the Apportioner shall apportion to thee^ (ma yamni laka Clamant),
which apparently refers to a god^ The word here translated ^apportionoriginally means ^>to counts,
hence to ^►reckon ^ a thing to someone^

She is also the Goddess of Death. ^Maniya appears in poetry as driving a man into the grave, piercing him
with an arrow, handing to him the cup of death, lying in ambush for him, receiving him as a guest (when he
is about to die), and so forth. Not unfrequently the possessive suffix is added, ^when my Maniya
overtakes me,^ ^Miis Maniya has come upon him,^> and the like^>^>

Al-^Uzza

Her name means ^>the Most Mighty.^ She was a Goddess of the Sabaeans who, in due course, became
popular all over Arabia. She embodied the cult of the planet Venus. ^The Syrian poet Issac of Antioch,
who lived in the first half of the 5th cent., bears witness to the worship of ^HJzza by the Arabs of that

period; in another passage he identifies ^HJzza with the planet Venus ^ The Arabian cult of the Venus is
mentioned like-wise by Ephrahim Syrus (who died in AD 373), by Jerome, Theodret, and later still by
Evagrius^ As early as the 2nd cent, or thereabout, references to a priest of this goddess occur in two
Sinaitic inscriptions^ Another Sinaitic inscription mentions the name ^ Abd al- &Uz.z.a which at a later
time, just before the rise of Islam, was extremely common among the Arabs ^ ^HJzza figures in the

Qur^an (Sura liii. 19) as one of the three great goddesses of Mecca, who were supposed to be daughters of
Allah. That Muhammad himself offered sacrifices to her in his younger days is expressly stated by
tradition^

^►Kuthra which probably means ^>die Most Rich,^ the name of an idol destroyed by order of

Muhammad, is perhaps only another title of ^HJzza. We also read of a man call &Abd Kuthra, belonging
to the tribe of Tai, in the very centre of Arabia. Here the absence of the definite article proves that the name
Kuthra is ancienl ^

Another poet is known to have sworn by the Sa^ida (Blessed) ❖Uzza. As as-S^ida is known to be the

name of a Goddess worshipped at Medina, it is inferred that she was ❖ Uzza. ❖She was especially
associated with the GhaTafan but her principal sanctuary was in the valley of the Nakhla on the road from
Ta^if to Mecca^ It consisted of three samura (acacia) trees in one of which the goddess revealed

herself^ From these centres her cult spread among a number of Beduin tribes, the Khuza^a, Ghanm,
Kinana, Bali, Thakif and especially the Quraish, among whom she gradually acquired a predominant
position^ Here she formed with al-Lat and Manat a trinity in which she was the youngest but came in time
to overshadow the others ❖ When in the year 3, Abu Sufyan set out to attack Muhammad he took the
symbols of al-^Uzza and al-Lat with him. That of the two al-^Uzza was the more important as the patron
deity of Mecca is shown from Abu Sufyan^s war cry: al-^Uzza is for us and not for you^

❖Her cult disappeared after this [destruction of her sanctuary], as did the numerous proper names,

combinations of al-^Uzza, while the masculine counterpart ❖ Abd al-^Aziz remained because ❖Aziz
was one

of the names of AI i ah ❖ ❖

Shams

❖The Sun (Shams, construed as feminine) was honoured by several Arabian tribes with a sanctuary and an
idol. The name &Abd Shams, ❖servant of the Sun,^ is found in many parts of the country. In the North
we meet with the name Amrishams, ❖man of the Sun^ ❖

❖For the worship of the rising Sun we have the evidence of the name 4>Abd ash-Shariq, ❖servant of the
Rising One^ ❖ In the extreme South there was a God called DhariH or DliirrtH, which appears likewise

to denote the rising Sun^ Once we meet the name ❖,4 bdMuharriq; UtrtMuharriq, ❖the Burner, ❖ may
perhaps be another title of the Sun-god. The Muharriq who is mentioned as the ancestor of certain royal
houses admits of a similar explanation. ❖—

Sura 91 of the Qur^an is named Ash-Shams. The word ❖shams ❖ survives in Muslim names also.

Dhu^sh-Shara

He was an ancient Arab deity. ❖According to the Arab tradition he was a god who owned a reserved
grazing ground (Hima) among the Dawsites with a hollow in which the water trickled down from the rocks,
which is in agreement with the fact that the name ❖Abd Dhu ❖l-Shara is found in this tribe. According to

al-Kalbi also, this deity was worshipped among the related Banu ❖ l-Harith ❖ We meet with Dh ❖l-Shara
(Dusares) on more historical ground as a the chief god of the Nabataeans in whose inscriptions from Petra,
the land east of Jordan and as far as al-Hidjr, he is often mentioned. His chief sanctuary was in Petra where
a large black, quadrangular stone was dedicated to him in a splendid temple. He had another important
sanctuary in Soada which was called Dionysias after him. His festival was celebrated here in August which

is certainly connected with the fact that he was identified with Dionysos as the god of fertility, particularly
of the vintage. In Petra and Elusa, on the other hand, his festival, according to Epiphanius, fell on the 25th

day of December on which day ^>the virgin called Kkhbou in Arabic and Dusares born of her were

worshipped with Arabic hymns^^ It naturally reminds one of the Arabic ka &ab ^>a young maiden with

breasts developed^; but it is also possible to connect it with ka^b ^cube^ (cf, the Ka^ba at Mecca)

according to which interpretation the god was thought to have been born from the stone. ^

^ ^But there were several places called ash-SImra, and the difficulty of determining with which of them
the god was originally connected is increased by the fact that his cult goes back to very early times. The
localities which bear this name appear to have been moist and rich in vegetation; such a spot, in the midst

of a sterile country like Arabia, easily became a centre of worship.^ The fact that underneath his idol
^stood a golden pedestal, and the whole sanctuary blazed with gold and votive offerings^, as also the fact
that his festival fell ^about the time of the winter solstice^, establish his ^connexion with Sun-
worship^. He was the ^patron of luxuriant vegetation^, which further emphasism his ^character as a
Sun-god.

^►Another god who appears to have been named after a place is Dhu ^H-Halasa or Dim 4H-IhtlaSa. He

was greatly venerated at a place in the noth of Yemen, apparently the district now called ^ Asir. Between
his sanctuary and the sanctuary at Mecca there existed a certain amount of rivalry.

^►From a grammatical point of view, the gods Dhu ^M-Kaffain, ^>He who has two hands, ^ and Dhu^r-

rijl, ^He who has a foot,^ must be classed with the two forgoing ones. Perhaps these names may have
been originally applied to sacred stones, which by means of rude carving were made to bear a partial
resemblance to the human form.

Another God with a similar name was Dhu ^1 -KhabSa who was worshipped by al-Azd or al-Asd, ^a
widely ramified family of tribes^ among which ^the al-Aws and al-Khazradj of Medina and the
Khuza^a in and around Mecca were counted.^ They were worshippers of Manat. The same tribe living in
the mountains of Sarat worshipped an idol named ^A^im.—

At-Thuraiya

^The constellation of the Pleiades ( ath-Thuraiya) which was supposed to bestow rain, appears as a deity
in the name &Abcl ath-Thuraiya', the name &Abd Najm refers also to the Pleiades, for the latter are often
called simply an-Najm , ^constellation.

^The word 4hhuraiya & is a dimunitive of &tharwa & which means ^existing in plenty ^ ^ The
constellation is so called because rain at its rising at the dawn brings tliarwa i.e. great plenty. In any case,
from early times the Pleiades have been credited with great influence on weather and the processes of

nature dependent upon it^> The constellation is also regarded as a diadem with jewels and it is mentioned
in countless passages in the poets 1

The word &tliuraiya & survives in the name Suraiya which is still common among Muslims everywhere.
Sura liii of the Qur^an is namec lAn-Najm. Najm and Najma are also components of Muslim names.

QuzaH

He was an ^ancient Arabian thunder-god who shot hail from his bow and then hung the latter on the
clouds.^ We meet him in the 4>combinationgaMs QuzaH the bow of QuzaH, meaning the
rainbow.— QuzaH was also ^the name of a certain spot, within the sacred territory of Mecca, where

pilgrims were accustomed to kindle fire. ^ - The Islamic lore is not quite logical about this God. He is
described as a shaiTan (devil) and also as an angel who looks after the clouds. The rainbow becomes
Allah^s bow, bow of the prophet of Allah, bow of the heavens, bow of the clouds, signs of heaven, etc.,
and the word loses its association with a God.

Wadd

^ ^>also pronounced Wudd or Udd i.e. ^friendship,^ ^affection,^ was according to the Qur^an (Sura
lxxi. 22) a god worshipped by the contempories of Noah. But it would be a mistake to conclude that his
worship was obsolete in Muhammad^>s time, for we have sufficient evidence to the contrary. The poet
Nabigha says once, ^Wadd greet thee! ^ There was a statue of this god at Duma, a great oisis in the

extreme North of Arabia. The name &Abd Wadd occurs in a number of wholly distinct tribes^ As we are
told that his statue had a bow and arrows attached to it we might be tempted to imagine that he was a kind
of Eros, and this would imply a foreign origin. But though the root WDD means ^>to love,^> ^>to feel

affection^ for an object, it is never used in a sexual sense. Moreover the statue in question bore not only a
bow and arrows, but likewise a sword and lance from which hung a flag; the god was also fully clad and
therefore does not look like a copy of the Greek Eros. ^

Ch. Muhammad Ismail mentions an inscription which he saw in the Prince of Wales Museum of Western
India, Bombay, in 1921. It was on one of the stones ^brought from Aden by Colonel H.F. Jacob of the
Indian Army, who was for a long time at Aden^>^ The language of the inscription was ^what may be
called Himyaritic though Sabaean and South Arabic are also names given to it^. Ch. Ismail read the

inscription as saying, ^The House No. 2 of Father Wadd and commented: ^KVadd was a god
worshipped by the Arabs who often wore talismans bearing the name Wadd. The word itself is derived from
wudd which means love. It was opposed to Nakruh, the god of hatred.^—

The name of this God survives in Al-Wadud, one of the ninety-nine names of Allah meaning ^>the Loving
One^> (Qur^an, xi. 92; lxxv. 14).

RuDa

She was a Goddess who symbolized ^goodwill^ or ^favour^. ^>The commentary on a term in which
the name is mentioned informs us that RuDa was worshipped in the shape of an idol by the great tribe of
Tamim. The proper name &Abd RuDa is found among several Arab tribes. To the nature of the deity in

question the name supplies no cluc4> The remarkable fact that in the abovementioned verse RuDa is
construed as feminine (whereas this grammatic form would normally be masculine), naturally suggests that
at that period, about the time of Muhammad, people still realized that RuDa was merely an epithet applied
to a goddess who properly bore some other name. But against this hypothesis, it may be urged that the
name is of considerable antiquity, as is proved by the Palmyrene inscriptions, where it occurs separately in

the form ^>RSU, and in theophorous proper names as RSU ^ The RDU of the Safa inscriptions seems to
denote the same deity. ^ 1

Jadd

It was the name of a deity venerated by various Semitic people. The word occurs in Nabataean inscriptions
in the form Gadda. ^>But since we meet the proper name f>Ahd al-Jadd in a few cases^ and since the
noun judd, ^Muck,^ remained in current use among the Arabs, it is more natural to regard the
Nabataean Gadda as an Aramaized form of the native Arabic al-Gadd (al-Jadd).^— The name is used in
the Qur^an (lxxii. 3) in the sense of ^greatness^ and ^majesty^.

Sa^d

In Arab astronomy it is the common name for small groups of stars in the constellations Pegasus, Aquarius
and Capricorn which augur good fortune. That is what the God Sa^d stood for. ^According to a certain
verse and statements of the commentator, Sa^d was the name given to a rock not far from Jidda, to which
divine honours were paid. Moreover, we meet the name &Abd Sa &d in quite a different part of Arabia, to
the north-east. At an earlier period a man^s name which seems to be compounded with Sa^d occurs in
the inscriptions of Safa. ^ - Three of Muhammad^s leading companions were named Sa^d- Sa^d ibn
Abi Waqqas, Sa^d ibn Mu^az and Sa^d ibn ^HJbadah. The name seems to have survived, though in an
abbreviated form, in the title of the thirty-eighth Sura of the Qur^an.

Manaf

The name means ^height^, or ^high placed. ^That Manaf was worshipped as a god is proved by the
testimony of a verse, and is confirmed by the occurrence of a name &Abd Manaf which was especially

common at Mecca and among the neighbouring tribe of Hudhail. ^ The word Mdnapliis is found in an
ancient inscription from the Hauran and seems to be derived from Manaphios, the name of this God.—

❖❖it is said that one of Muhammad^s ancestors-the pedigree being Muhammad b. ❖Abd Allah b.

❖Abd al-MuTTalib b. Hashim b. ❖Abd Manaf-received this name because his mother consecrated him to
Manaf, who was then the chief deity of Makka.

❖ ❖ Ibn Kalbi knows nothing of its whereabouts except that menstruating women were bound to keep
themselves at a distance from it.

❖The name does not occur either in the Qur^an or in classical hadith. It derives from a root n-w-f, which
in several Semitic languages conveys the meaning of ❖being elevated❖.❖

Nasr

It was ❖One of the idols of ancient Arabs, mentioned in the Qur^an, Surah lxxi. 23. it was an idol which,
as its name implies, was worshipped under the form of an eagle .❖— Muhammad made this God a
contemporary of Noah. ❖But it is to be noticed that the Sabaeans like-wise had a god called Nasr^ ❖

❖Auf

The name &Abd ❖,4 uf was quite common among the Arabs. ❖Auf means ❖the great bird of prey^. The
word is not found in this form in the Arab language at present. But ❖the verb ❖afa, which is derived from

it, means ❖to wheel in the air,' as birds of prey are wont to do. ❖ The word ❖has, in particular, the sense
of augurium, and it may be that the name of the god did not refer to the bird but to the omen drawn from it;
in this case ❖Auf would be a synonymous of Sa^d. ❖

Yaguth

❖The god Yaguth, whose name evidently means ❖helper,❖ was according to the Qur^an (Sura lxxi.
23), another of the deities worshipped in the days of Noah❖ We find no trace of this god in early
tiniest But at a later period we hear of a god Yaguth, whose idol was an object of contention among the
tribes of Yemen, and the name &Abd Yaguth occurs in various part of Arabia, even in the tribe of Taghilib
on the north-eastern frontier. ❖—

❖ Yaguth had the shape of a lion.^

Ya^uq and Suwa^

The idol of Ya^uq ❖"was in the form of a horse, and was worshipped in Yemen. (Bronze images of this
idol are found in ancient tombs and are still used as amulets) ❖

❖ Suwa^, in the form of a woman, was said to be from antidiluvian times ❖❖

❖The name of the god Ya^Kiq, who is mentioned in the Qur^an together with Yaguth, probably means
❖the Preserver^; his cult seems to have been confined to Yemen. Suwa^>, who is also included among

gods worshipped by Noah^s contemporaries (Sard lxxi. 20), was apparently of no great importance. He
had a sanctuary at a place in the territory of the Hudhail, but none, so far as we know, elsewhere. The
meaning of his name is altogether obscure. Neither Suwa^ nor Ya^uq seems to occur in the theophorous
proper names. It is hardly necessary to remark that the transferring of all these Arabian deities to the age of
Noah was a fantastic anachronism due to Muhammad himself. ❖

Hubal

❖Hubal was worshipped at Mecca; his idol stood in the Ka^ba, and appears to have been in reality, the

god of that sanctuary ❖ It would be unsafe to trust the descriptions of the idol in question which are given
by writers of a later period; there is reason, however, to believe that the god had a human form. We may
likewise accept as historical the statement that near him were kept divining arrows, used for the purpose of

ascertaining his will or forecasting future events. It is related that the idol was brought by ^Amr b. LuHai

from Ma^ab (Moab), a tradition which may contain some elements of truth, for we have independent
evidence indicating that the god was known in the North. He seems to be mentioned in a Nabataean
inscription at Hejr; and the tribe of Kalb, who dwelt in the Syrian Desert, used the name of Hubal as the

name of a person or clan; the same tribe ❖ used in like manner the names of Isaf and Na^ila, two other

deities peculiar to Mecca. Moreover, ^Amr b. LuHai is the representative of the Huzfi^a, a tribe who,
according to tradition, occupied the sacred territory of Mecca before it passed into the hands of the Quraish.
The assertion that^Amr introduced the worship of idols into Mecca for the first time is, of course, utterly
incredible. But the hypothesis that Hubal was a late importation from a foreign country is further supported
by the fact that we hear nothing of him in other parts of Arabia, and even at Mecca personal names
compounded with Hubal were unknown. When the Meccans gained a victory over the Prophet in the

immediate neighbourhood of Medina, their leader shouted, ❖Hurrah for Hubal! ❖ Thus they regarded him
as the natural enemy of the God preached by Muhammad. ❖-

❖ Another tradition indeed relates that Hubal was an idol of Banu Kinana, worshipped also by the Quraish,

and had been placed in the Ka^ba by Khuzaima b. Mudrika wherefore it used to be called Hubal
Khuzaima. It is further related that the idol was of red carnelian, in the form of a man; the Quraish replaced
the right hand which was broken, by a golden one^^—

❖Hubal was in the form of a man and came from Syria; he was the god of rain and had a high place of
honour. ❖—

❖An idol, the God of the Moon^>^>

❖it is remarkable that there is no distinct allusion to the idol in the whole of the Qur^an. ❖

dThe learned Dr. Pocockd derives the name from the Hebrew habba Plot habbe Pi and suggests d the
appropriateness of havel, dvanity!d Among the Arabs, Hubal seems to have had a double character, in

which respect he resembled the Syrian idol Baal (properly, Badal), who was regarded both as the founder
of the Babylonian empire, and as the sun personified as a deity. The opinion that Hubal was the same as the
Babylonian or Syrian idol Badal or Bel, or synonymous with it, is in fact supported by the testimony of
the Arabian authorities, who relate that it was originally brought from Syria or Mesopotamia. Of course, the
Arabian writers do not maintain that Hubal was identical with Badal: they admit, however, that it was an
astronomical deity, which Badal also is believed to have been-whose designation, by the way, like that of
dthe sund among ourselves, always appears with the article-dHabbadald. Further, Herodotus (and
after him, Rawlison) held the opinion that Hubbal was dthe Jupiter of the Arabians ^-presumably because
he was believed to have the power of sending raindd 1

Isaf and Nadila

Muslim tradition says that dThey were a man and woman of Jurhum-Isaf b. Baghy and Nadila d. Dik-
who were guilty of sexual relations in the Kadba and so God transformed them into two stones, d—

Obviously the tradition is a fabrication. As pointed out above, the tribe of Kalb in the Syrian Desert
worshipped both of them as deities along with Hubal. The idols dstood near Mecca on the hills of Safa
and Mirwa; the visitation of these popular shrines is now a part of the Muslim pilgrimage dd’- They were
no doubt dtwo sacred stones, but the origin of their names is so far unexplained, d

Al-Qais

He was an ancient God of the pagan Arabs. dHe must have early disappeared as a deity, for al-Kalbi does
not mention him in his Kitab al-ASnam and he is not given in the various passages in Arab literature that
give lists of the gods of the Djahiliya. But that he was at one time worshipped as a god may be deduced

with considerable certainty from the tribal name dAbd al-Qais and from the well-known personal and
tribal name Imrud al-Qais. d The name of a God mentioned in the Nabataean inscription from al-Hijr
dean hardly be other than an Aramaic adaptation of al-Qaisd who dhad a sanctuary in al-Hijr in which
copies of documents used to be deposited, d The word Pqais P carries several meanings in the
dictionaries. De Goeje dhas deduced the meaning dLordd from al-Hamdani, Djazirat al-dArab.d

Al-UqaiSir

ddThe name of a divinity of pre-Muhammadan Arabia, or better an epithe, the meaning of which

(diminutive of aqSar , dhe who has a stiff neckd or perhaps simply dthe shortd) seems to indicate an
idol in a human shape. All that we know of the god (whose real name is un-known) goes back to the
references to him by Ibn al-Kalbi, Kitab al-ASnamfoWowed by Yaqut, Mm Pdjani d Al-UqaiSir was

worshipped by the tribes of QuDfi^a, Lakhm, Djudham, ^ A mi I a and GhaTafan living on the plateau of
the Syrian Desert. Verses in old poets quoted by Ibn al-Kalbi mention stones ( anSab ) put up around the
sacred place, the ^garments ^ ( athwab ), the ditch ( djafr ) into which were thrown the offerings, the cries
and chants of the pilgrims ^

^ As Wellhausen notes, the expressions used in the verses which Ibn al-Kalbi quotes in connection with al-
UqaiSir must refer to a sanctuary as well as to an idol. We might then suppose that the epithet reflects the
squat form of the building. It is worthwhile recalling that the name Uqaisir is also applied to a tribe, to

individuals and even to a sword. ^ ’

Shai al-Qaum

We learn about this God from a Palmyrene and a Nabataean inscription. He is ^the Companion of the
peopled, ^the kind god who rewards (or who is grateful), and who drinks no wine^, that is, ^>to whom
no libations of wine are offered.^—

Duwar

was the virgins^ idol and young women used to go around it in procession, hence its name.^

Conclusion

The deities listed in the foregoing few pages may sound too many to minds under the spell of monotheism.
The fact, however, is that they are far too few and represent only what has been salvaged by modern
scholarship form the extensive ruins caused by Islam. For the pagan Arabs, the whole of their homeland
was honeycombed with temples and sanctuaries housing hundreds of divinities with as many Names and
Forms. Every household had its ancestral deities which were joined by those brought in by the brides.
Every locality, every oasis, every grove had its own presiding deity. So also every tribal territory. Finally,

the national temple, the Ka^ba at Mecca, had as many as three hundred and sixty deities, the Names and

Forms of which remain unknown except in the case of a few. ^It seems that in course of time the various

Arab tribes had brought in their gods and placed them in the Ka^ba, which had consequently acquired the

character of the national pantheon for the whole of Arabia.^—

The more pertitent point in the present context, however, is that the pagan Arabs were fully satisfied with
their ancestral religion and felt no need for a replacement. Of course, they were not in the business of
saving souls and civilizing other people, which is what has come to count in the history of religion. But that

is a ^fault^ inbuilt in the very genius of paganism. ^Occupied with the reform of their own lives and the
righting of actual wrongs, these persons made no noise and being earnest did not suppose that the
replacement of one cult for another would make men virtuous; and Mohammed himself had occasion to
draw a contrast between the conduct of his pagan and that of his believing son-in-law, greatly to the
disadvantage of the latter. So far as the religious sentiment requires gratification, there is no evidence to
show that paganism had faded to gratify it. We gather from the inscriptions of the pagan Arabs that a

wealth of affection and gratitude was bestowed upon their gods and patrons. In the pagan spiritual

tradition people are expected to be ^busy with themselves^, that is, busy in improving their own morals
by purifying their own consciousness. The prophetic tradition, on the other hand, harangues people to be
^busy with the others^, that is, saving other people from sin, infidelity, and the eternal hell-fire. That is
why the prophetic tradition abounds in missions and da &was, crusades andjihads.

It is often pointed out that no pagan Arab came foreward with a philosophical defence of his religion when
it was assailed by Muhammad. The only defence which every pagan put up for his religion was that it was
the religion of his forefathers and, as such, hallowed by time and tradition. A deeper reflection goes to
show that this was indeed a very strong defence. What the monothesists dismiss as polytheism and idol-

worship are natural to the normal human psyche. Moreover, honouring that which was honoured by oriels

ancestors keeps one rooted in one^s history and culture. Cults which encourage one to denounce one^s

ancestors as barbarians or infidels, and one^s past history as an age of ignorance, render one rootless and

make one into a menace to oriels neighbours. The Bible provides ample evidence of the normal people
reverting to polytheism and idol-worship again and again, and the persistent and violent wars which the
prophets had to wage for reimposing Jehovah on them. In any case, a religion stands in need of a
philosophical defence only when it is already on a course of decline, and an inner dissatisfaction starts
gnawing at the heart of its more perceptive adherents. There is no evidence that the pagan Arabs were
suffering from such a psychosis on the eve of Islam. The confidence with which they spurned

Muhammad^s message and ridiculed his superior claims leaves little doubt that Arab paganism was still in
a state of good health. Though not so the environment in which this paganism lived and breathed. The
mental disorder glorified as monotheism was present in an epidemic form, not only all around it but also in
its very midst. Arab paganism was blissfully ignorant of what monotheism meant and the mischief it
intended for a society which permitted it to spread.

Footnotes:

- Ibid., op. cit., pp. 35-36. The word &God & in this passage and those that follow is a translation
of the word ^Allah^ The references to Abraham and Ishmael and their mode of worship at the

Ka^ba may be ignored in the light of what we have stated above. The Ka^ba was a temple of
the pagan Arabs who had never heard of Abraham or Ishmael or their religion.

2 Ibid., p. 36.

- Ibid., p. 37.

- Ibid., p. 38.

- It was renamed Medina when Muhammad migrated to it.

- Ibid., pp. 38-39.

1 Ibid., p. 39.

- Plural of Sanam. Dictionaries and commentaries on the Qur^an define it as ^>an object which is
worshipped besides God^, being a thing made of wood, stone or metal.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VII, p. 147.

— Shaikh Inayatullah, op. cit., p. 128.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. 1. p. 379. References to similar Gods of other
nations, mentioned in parentheses, have been left out.

— This theory of borrowing Gods in the case of pagan spiritual traditions does not mean much
because the pagan psyche throws up spontaneously the same symbols everywhere.

— Ibid., p. 380.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Third Impression, Edinburgh, 1955, Vol. I, p. 664.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 302.

16 Ibid.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 67. Allah of the pagan Arabs reminds us of the Devddhideva, the God of
Gods, in the Hindu spiritual tradition.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 303. Pagan epithets of Allah remind us of
the Sahasrandma- s in praise of many Hindu Gods and Godesses.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit, p. 504.

— Cyril Glasse, The Concise Encyclopaedia of Islam, London, 1989, p. 279.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 664
= Ibid. See also the last para under Hubal in this section.

— Ibid.

— Ibid., Footnote.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 661.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VI, p. 1088.

— Ibid., Vol. V, p. 27. Allat, reminds us of Aditi, the Mother of Gods in the Vedic pantheon.

— This city became known as Medina after Muhammad migrated to it from Mecca in AD 622. It
remained his seat till his death in AD 632. Later on, it was the capital of the Caliphate till ^ All
moved to Kufa.

-Ibid., op. cit., Vol. V, p. 231.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 661.

— Ibid., One is reminded of the Hindu concept of Kala which stands for both Time and Death, and
parallel verses can be found in Hindu literature. We also know of Hindu temples dedicated to
Mahakala.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 660.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VIII, p. 1069.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 660.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 965.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 663.
n Ibid.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 530-31.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 660.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VIII, p. 740.

-Ibid., op. cit, Vol. IV, p. 833.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 661. He reminds us of Indra of the Vedic
pantheon in one of his roles.

— Ibid., p. 662.

— A Himyaritic Inscription^, article by Ch. Muhammad Ismail in Indian Antiquary, Vol. LVI
(February, 1927), p. 21.

— Ibid., p. 22.

46 Ibid.

41 Ibid.

^ Ibid.

45 Ibid.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. V, p. 227.

— Thomas Patrick Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, First Published 1885, New Delhi Reprint 1976. p.

431.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 663. He reminds us of GaruDa in the PuraNas.
51 Ibid.

^ Ibid.

— S.M. Zwemer, The Influence of Animism in Islam, New York, 1920, p. 5.

56 Ibid.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, op. cit., p. 663.

— Ibid., pp. 663-64. Pagan spiritual traditions elsewhere are also known to have borrowed or
exchanged idols. No idol is foreign to the pagan psyche.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit, Vol. Ill, p. 327.

— S.M. Zwemer, op. cit., p. 5.

— Cyril Glasse, op. cit p. 160.

— Thomas Patrick Hughes, op. cit., p. 181.

— The Oracle of Hubal article in Indian Antiquary. Vol. XII, (January, 1883), p. 5.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 37.

— S.M. Zwemer, op. cit., p. 6.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 527. Hindu iconography is familiar
with Mithunas. Gods and their Consorts, worshipped together.

— Ibid., Vol. IV, p. 651. There is considerable inscriptional evidence from South India about the
Hindu practice of making various types of agreements in the temples, thus invoking the Gods and
Goddesses as witnesses.

-Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 993.

— Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethcis, op. cit., p. 663.

— S.M. Zwemer, op. cit., p. 6.

— Shaikh Inayatullah, op. cit., p. 130.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 25.

CHAPTER TWELVE
MONOTHEISM SPREADS TO ARABIA

Monotheism had infected the Jews some two millenia before the birth of Muhammad. Moses had sold them
into slavery to Jehovah, a demoniacal Spirit masquerading as the one and only God.- Many books of the
Bible tell the blood-curdling story of what the Jews did to themselves and to the others when goaded by this
Gangster. The end result was their own ruination, and their dispersal as slaves and refugees in all
directions. Meanwhile, the disease had spread to West Asia, Europe and North Africa in the form of
Christianity. It had destroyed the Greco-Roman civilization as well as Germanic paganism, and spread
darkness wherever it went. Now it was getting ready to engulf Arabia which had survived so far as an
island of sanity in the midst of a surging sea of madness.

The pagan Arabs, however, had remained unaware of the menace advancing on them from all sides.
Abyssinia, their neighbour to the west, had been a Christian stronghold for long, and had even launched a
crusade against them in recent times. The Byzantine Empire, their neighbour to the north, had gone
Christian early in the fourth century, and was busy rooting out paganism within its own precincts. The
Sassanian Empire of Persia, their neighbour to the east, was patronizing a Zoroastrianism which had lost its
ancient Aryan genius and imbibed the spirit of Judaism and Christianity. It had become a monotheistic
creed complete with f/zeProphet, the Book, the Last Day, and Heaven and Hell. The only point it missed
and, therefore, lost the race to Judaism and Christianity, was missionary zeal; it was not yet out to force
other people to its own way of worship.

Each of these neighbours was aspiring to invade and dominate Arabia. What kept them in check was their
mutual rivalry. The peace which Arabia had enjoyed for long intervals was a byproduct of this balance of
power. Even so, several Arab tribes in North and South Arabia had embraced Judaism or Christianity.
Worse still, both Jews and Christians had settlements in the very heart of Arabia. The role which these
preachy communities played in the rise of Islam has been highlighted by Muslims scholars themselves.
Shaikh Inayatullah writes:

❖in the century before Muhammad Arabia was not wholly abandoned to paganism. Both Judaism and
Christianity claimed a considerable following among its inhabitants. Almost every calamity that befell the
land of Palestine sent a fresh wave of Jewish refugees into Arabia, sometimes as far as Yemen. They had
probably taken refuge there after the conquest of Palestine by Titus in AD 70. Jewish colonies flourished in
Medina and several other towns of Hijaz. In the time of the Prophet, three large Jewish tribes, viz., the

NaDir, Quraizah and Qainuqa^, dwelt in the outskirts of Medina, and the fact that the Prophet made an
offensive and defensive alliance with them for the safety of the town shows that they were an important
factor in the political life of those times. These colonies had their own teachers and centres of religious
study. Judging by few extant specimens of their poetry, these refugees through contact with a people nearly
akin to themselves, had become fully Arabicized both in language and sentiment. They, however, remained
Jews in the most vital particular, religion, and it is probable that they exerted a strong influence over the
Arabs in favour of monotheism.

❖Another religious factor which was strongly opposed to Arabian paganism was the Christian faith. How
early and from what direction Christianity entered Arabia is a question which it is difficult to answer with
certainty but there is no doubt that Christianity was widely diffused in the southern and northern parts of
Arabia at the time of the Prophet. Christianity is said to have been introduced in the valley of Najran in
northern Yemen from Syria, and it remained entrenched in spite of the terrible persecution it suffered at the

hands of the Himyarite king, Dhu Nawas, who had adopted the Jewish faith ❖ Christianity in the south¬
west of Arabia received a fresh stimulus by the invasion of the Christian Abyssinians, who put an end to
the rule of Dhu Nawas. There were Christians in Mecca itself, Waraqah ibn Naufal, a cousin of Khadijah,
the first wife of the Prophet, was one of them. Christianity was also found among certain tribes of the
Euphrates and the Ghassan who lived on the borders of Syria. Their conversion was due to their contact

with the Christian population of the Byzantine Empire^ The Christians were also found at Hirah, a town
in the north-east of Arabia, where Arab princes of the house of Lakhm ruled under the suzerainty of the

Persian kings. These Christians who were called ^Ibad or the ^Servants of the Lord,^> belonged to the
Nestorian Church, and contributed to the diffusion of Christian ideas among the Arabs of the Peninsula.

^By the sixth century, Judaism and Christianity had made considerable headway in Arabia, and were
extending their sphere of influence, leavening the pagan masses, and thus gradually preparing the way for
Islam.

Most of the Jews and Christians settled in Arabia were descendants of refugees who had fled at one time or
the other from persecutions in the Byzantine and the Persian empires. Arab paganism had provided them
not only protection but also freedom to practise and preach their creeds. They had, therefore, succeeded in
making some converts among the Arabs. But the fact that they were refugees and that the pagan Arabs were
their protectors, was soon forgotten. It was not long before the Jews and the Christians started using the
security and the freedom for pouring contempt on Arab paganism. Medina in particular had become a
Jewish stronghold. Gibbon tells us that this city with its wealthy and vociferous Jewish tribes had become
famous all over Arabia as the City of the Book.- It was as sick with monotheism as a harlot with venereal

desease. Small wonder that it became Muhammad^s base of operations for imposing Islam on the rest of

Arabia after he had to leave Mecca in utter despair. ^The course of the following narrative will show,^>

observes Margoliouth, ^that Muhammad ^>s mission at Meccah was a failure, and that it was only at

Medinah^ that he readily found a hearing, and that having turned Medinah into an armed camp, he was
able partly by force and partly by bribes to subjugate Meccah, whence he proceeded quickly to subdue the
rest of Arabia.

It seems that the pagan Arabs, by and large, were not prone to catch the infection. They were happy with
their healthy paganism but for a few persons, particularly among their educated elite, who equated religious
superiority with superiority in material wealth, or military power, or both. Every society has individuals
who get alienated from their own culture simply because that society happens to be poor or powerless. The
pagan Arab society was no exception. Compared to the Abyssinian, Byzantine and the Persian empires,
Arabia was poor in material wealth as well as military prowess. Some upper class Arabs who travelled to
the neighbouring lands or heard the gorgeous stories from others, were swept off their feet. They readily
accepted the explanation, advanced by hawkers of monotheism, that the foreign lands were rich and
powerful simply because each of them had a Prophet and a Book. Lenin, Mao Tse-tung, M.N. Roy,
Jawaharlal Nehru and many others all over the world are excellent examples of the fascination which the
power and wealth of foreign countries exercises over shallow but self-righteous minds; they start by
despising themselves as members of a poor society, and end by despising their people and culture. Ibn
Ishaq provides interesting evidence about the presence of such self-alienated Arabs in Mecca itself. He
writes:

^>One day when the Quraysh assembled on a feast day to venerate and circumambulate the idol to which
they offered sacrifices, this being a feast which they held annually, four men drew apart secretly and agreed
to keep their counsel in the bonds of friendship. They were (i) Waraqa bin Nufal; (ii) Ubaydullah b. Jahash;

(iii) ^HJthman b. al-Huwayrith; and (iv) Zayd b. ^Amr. They were of the opinion that their people had
corrupted the religion of their father Abraham, and that the stone they went round was of no account; it
could neither hear, nor see, nor hurt, nor help. ^Find for yourselves a religion,^ they said; ^>for by God

you have none.^ So they wont their several ways in the lands, seeking the Hanifiya, the religion of
Abraham.

^►Waraqa attached himself to Christianity and studied its scriptures until he had thoroughly mastered them.
Ubaydullah went on searching until Islam came; then he migrated with the Muslims to Abyssinia taking

with him his wife who was Muslim, Umm Habiba d. Abu Sufyan. When he arrived there he adopted
Christianity, parted from Islam, and died a Christian in Abyssinia.

^■^MJthman b. Huwayrith went to the Byzantine emperor and became a Christian. He was given high
office there.

^►Zayd b. ^Amr stayed as he was. He accepted neither Judaism nor Christianity. He abandoned the
religion of his forefathers and abstained from idols ^ saying that he worshipped the God of Abraham, and
he publicly rebuked his people for their practices^

^►Zayd b. ^Amr composed the following poem:

Am I to worship one lord or a thousand?

If there are as many as you claim,

I renounce al-Lat and al-^Uzza both of them
As any strong-minded person would.

I will not worship al-^MJzza and her two daughters,

Nor will I visit the two idols of Banu ^Amr.

I will not worship Hubal though he was our lord
In the days when I had little sensed
You will see the pious living in gardens,

While for the infidels hell fire is burning.

Shamed in life, when they die

Their breasts will contract in anguish^

Beware of putting another beside God
For the upright way has become clear.

^>Then he went forth seeking the religion of Abraham questioning monks and Rabbis until he had
traversed al-MauSil and the whole of Mesopotamia; then he went through the whole of Syria until he came
to a monk in the high ground at Balaqa. This man, it is alleged, was well-versed in Christianity. He asked

him about the Hanifiya, the religion of Abraham and the monk replied. ^ You are seeking a religion to
which no one today can guide you, but the time of a prophet who will come forth from your own country
which you have just left has drawn near. He will be sent with the Hanifiya, the religion of Abraham, so

stick to it, for he is about to be sent now and this is his time. ^ Now Zayd had sampled Judaism and
Christianity and was not satisfied with either of them; so that at these words he went away at once making
for Mecca; but when he was inside the country of Lakhm he was attacked and killed.

^►Waraqa b. Naufal composed this elegy over him.

You were altogether in the right path Ibn ^Amr,

You have escaped hellos burning oven
By serving the one and only God
And abandoning vain idols. ^

References to HanifTya, the religion of Abraham, in this story can be ignored as they obviously reflect
wisdom by hindsight. It was not before Muhammad migrated to Medina and discovered that the Jews were
not prepared to accept him as a prophet, that he invented a religion of Abraham distinct from both Judaism
and Christianity. Till that time he had been seeking certificates from the People of the Book, the Jews and
the Christians, to the effect that his teachings were in accordance with what was written in their scriptures.
Equally anachronistic in this story is the prophecy about the advent of Muhammad. Orthodox biographers
of the Prophet have put such prophecies in the mouths of several Jewish rabbis and Christian monks. They
were only trying to be wise after the event. All that is true in the story of Waraqa etc., is that some Arabs
were turning away from their ancestral religion and to-wards the alien cult of monotheism. At the same
time, some prophets were also appearing in Arabia and claiming to be in direct communication with God.

Monotheism being a cult of prophets, its appearance in pagan Arabia was bound to produce some of this
species. Prophethood is not at all a difficult profession if we go by their crop in the Bible. One has only to
manage the requisite amount of self-deception and self-righteousness and go about shouting from the

housetops that one^s people have sunk into sin. One has also to be ready, if opportunity occurs, to use
violence against one's own people. It was, therefore, only a copybook exercise for prophets who arose in
pagan Arabia. They had only to ape their prototypes in the stories retailed to them by the Jews and the
Christians. Muhammad was not the first of these novel Arab characters.

❖Prophets indeed had arisen in Arabia before Mohammed: in Yemen among the Himyarites one Samaifa
had imitated the exploits of old Zamolaxis: had hidden himself for a time and then reappeared, when a
hundred thousand men prostrated themselves before their risen lord. Legends containing probably some
germ of truth recorded how shortly before Mohammed one Khalid, son of Sinan, had been sent to preach to

the tribe of ❖ Abs, and one Hanzalah, son of Safwan, to some other of the inhabitants of Arabia. In
Yemamah, too, one Maslamah had given a sign that he was sent from God: through the neck of a bottle he
introduced an egg unbroken to the bowl. Since Yemamah supplied Meccah with corn, the tradition that

makes Muhammad a pupil of Maslamah has certainly some foundation. ❖

❖According to Ibn Ishaq, Muhammad^s enemies reproached him with having obtained his wisdom from
a man of Yamama named RaHman. Now we have ample evidence that Musailima, who preached in the
name of RaHman was himself called RaHman. It is also worthy of note that the prophetic utterances
attributed to Musailima recall the earliest Meccan suras with their short rhyming sentences and curious
oaths and have no resemblance to later Medinese suras. In particular the fact that all the Banu Hanifa
followed him into battle against the Medinese shortly after the death of Muhammad shows that he must

have been active for a considerable time and was no imitator of Muhammad^ According to Saif^s
account he must have been considerably influenced by Christianity for he speaks of the kingdom of
heaven^ ^ Musailima had introduced Salat, several times a day. He also maintained a mu &azzin and
a muqim.

It seems that these pretentious Arabs were not fully familiar with the institution of prophethood. The rise of
a female prophet, Sajah, shows their ignorance of the fact that prophethood in the Judaic and Christian
traditions was strictly a male profession, and women supposed to be the source of sin, had no right to it.
Sajah was a woman of Banu Tamim and one of the several prophets who sprang up shortly before

Muhammad. ❖On the mothers side she was related to Taghilib, a tribe which comprised many
Christians. She was a Christian herself, or at least had learnt much concerning Christianity from her
relatives. Next to nothing is known concerning the import of her revelations and doctrines; she delivered

her messages from a minbar, in rhymed prose, and was attended by a mu ❖adhdhin and a hajib. Her name,

or one of her names for God, was ❖the Lord of the clouds^ (rabb al-Sahdb).^ 1 She joined forces with
Musailima when the two of them were attacked by Muslim armies after the death of Muhammad. Muslim

historians love to tell obscene stories about the marriage and the merry-making of the two ^false
prophets^.

So there was nothing novel about Muhammad standing up one fine morning and proclaiming that he was
the prophet sent by Allah. The pagan Arabs were already used to such queer characters among their
otherwise level-headed people. They pitied these prophets as victims possessed by evil spirits and offered
the help of their medicine men. Obviously, they were impressed by no amount of prophetic talk.

It is, however, significant that the Arab prophets other than Muhammad are not known to have aroused the
fierce opposition which Muhammad faced at Mecca and elsewhere. That was because they did not
disparage the Arab Gods while preaching their monotheism. The pagans Arabs were not perturbed by
prophets so long as the latter left their Gods alone. It was Muhammad who made them sit up when he
spelled out the meaning of monotheism, namely, the dethronement of Arab Gods and the destruction of
Arab temples. Muhammad will very soon denounce the other Arab prophets also as impostors and liars
because they either did not know the meaning of monotheism or were wilfully suppressing vital parts of the
doctrine.

Footnotes:

1 This view of Jehovah was expressed by Marcion of the school of St. Paul, early in the second
century AD. ^The Old Testament he rejected in toto since it seemed to him, as it has seemed to
many Christians since, to be talking of quite a different God: monstrous, evil-creating, bloody, the
patron of ruffians like David ^ (A History of Christianity by Paul Johnson, Penguin Books, 1978,
p. 46). This was also the view of the Gnostics, an early Christian sect. The ^God^ of the Bible

and the Qur^an was seen in this light by Thomas Jafferson, Thomas Paine, and Swami
Dayananda as well.

= Shaikh Inayatullah, op. cit., pp. 134-35. There is no evidence of leavening of the masses; only
some members of the Arab elite were alienated from their society and culture.

- Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Modern Library Edition, New
York, Vol. Ill, p. 97.

- D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 31.

- These words vis-a-vis idols are found very frequently in the Bible and will very soon appear in
the Qur^an.

- Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., pp. 98-101, 103.

- D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit, pp. 80-81.The phenomena of ^prophetsarising in Arabia was
comparable to the crop of revolutionaries^ arising all over the world in the wake of
Lenin^scoM/; d 4>etat in Russia in 1917.

- First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VI, p. 745.

-Ibid., Vol. VII, p. 44.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MEANING OF MONOTHEISM

As we shall see, the Allah of the Qur^an says again and again that he is not revealing anything new but
only re-affirming what is already recorded in the earlier scripture, namely, the Bible. He is annoyed with
the Jews in particular for their refusal to recognize Muhammad as a prophet when their own prophets were
known to have spread the same message received from the same source. Muhammad, too, is pained that his
people repudiate him without checking with the Jews and the Christians the truth of what he is proclaiming.
Muslim theologians of later ages will deny that Muhammad learnt anything from the Bible. In their
eagerness to invest Muhammad with an absolutely original inspiration, they will portray him as an illiterate
( ummt ) who could neither read nor write. But we will better believe Allah and his prophet rather than the

latter-day Muslim theologians, and proceed to examine what the Bible says vis-a-vis other people^s gods
and places of worship.

The Bible is, of course, a large and complex composition spanning several centuries and dealing with
diverse subjects. We shall confine ourselves to the main theme which runs through all its book except most
of the Psalms and Proverbs, namely, the struggle by a succession of prophets to make the Jews stick to a
strict monotheism with all its implications. The prophets speak on behalf of a boastful being who
introduces himself as Jehovah and thunders a thousand time that he alone is worthy of worship to the

exclusion of all Mother gods^C Moses hails him as ^>a warrior^ whose name ^the nations heard and

trembled. ^

The story in the Bible starts a long time before Jehovah identifies himself to Moses. But that story is not
relevant in the present context except at one point where Jacob asked his people to ^rid yourselves of

foreign gods you have among you^ and ^buried them under the tere-binth tree.^ 2 For our purpose, the
story acquires interest only after Moses leads his people out of Egypt and goes up to Mount Sinai where he
has been summoned by Jehovah ^>in a peal of thunder.^ That is when Moses receives the famous Ten
Commandments.

The commandments that are relevant in the present context are the first two. Jehovah says, am the Lord
your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods set
against me. You shall not have a carved image for yourself nor the likeness of anything in the heavens
above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, for, I, the
Lord your God am a jealous god. I punish the children for the sins of their forefathers to the third and

fourth generations of those that hate me. He does not make it clear how homage to other gods means
hatred for him. He betrays the pathological state of mind in which a person feels slighted simply because
some other person is praised. In any case, he goes ahead and lays down that ^whoever sacrifices to any
other god but the Lord shall be put to death under solemn ban. ^

This was no empty threat as Moses proved soon after. While he went up to Mount Sinai for a second time
his people down below melted their ornaments, made a golden calf, and started worshipping it with song
and dance. Jehovah was furious. He threatened to destroy the whole lot of them, and Moses had a hard time

pacifying him. Moses hurried down in order to handle the situation. ^Then he took the calf they had made
and burnt it; he ground it to powder, sprinkled it on water and made the Israelites drink it. Next he took
his place at the gate of the camp and said, 4>Who is on the Lord^s side? Come here to me; and the Levites

all rallied to him. He said to them, ^These are the words of the Lord the God of Israel: Arm yourselves,
each of you, with his sword. Go through the camp from gate to gate and back again. Each of you will kill
his brother, his friend, his neighbour.^ The Levites obeyed, and about three thousand of the people died.
Moses then said, ^Today you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, because you have each turned

against his own son and his own brother and so have brought this blessing upon yourselves. All ties

of kinship which normal societies, particularly pagan societies, have prized stood dissolved in the new
dispensation. A brotherhood of believers (or bandits) based on a commonly shared cult came into existence.
Muhammad will also call upon the Muslims to do the same and acknowledge no relationship higher than
obedience to the dictates of Islam.

Jehovah made it quite clear to the Jews that if they failed to punish those among them who turned to other
gods, he will take the matter in his own hands and inflict terrible calamities on the whole people. ^Hf
inspite of this you do not listen to me and still defy me, I will defy you in anger, and I myself will punish
you seven times over for your sins. Instead of meat you shall eat your sons and your daughters. I will
destroy your hill shrines and demolish your incense altars. I will pile your rotting carcases on the rotting
logs that were your idols, and I will spurn you. I will make your cities desolate and destroy your

sanctuaries^ I will destroy your land and the enemies who occupy it shall be appalled. I will scatter you
among the heathen and I will pursue you with the naked sword; your land shall be desolate and your cities
heaps of rubble.^- He left no one in doubt that he was a hardened gangster who would stop at no crime.
We shall meet him again in the Qur^an.

The Mother gods^ are not worth worshipping because they are ^ made by human hands out of wood and
stone, gods that can neither see nor hear, neither eat nor smell. Idols are not only dead matter but also
^►loathsome and abominable.^— They cannot help, nor save you in an emergency.— We shall meet the
same note in the Qur^an. Allah will also pity the people who bow before such ^dead and dumb things^.

The march towards the land, which Jehovah had long ago promised to deliver to his Chosen People, was
resumed. Jehovah himself led the Jewish horde, assuming the form of a cloud. On the way he gave
elaborate instructions about how he himself was to be worshipped. At last they were on the frontiers of the

promised land. Jehovah briefed them how to proceed: ^ When the Lord your God brings you into the land
which you are entering to occupy and drive out many nations before you-Hitites, Girgashites, Amorites,
Cananites, Perrizites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more numeous and powerful than you—when the
Lord your God delivers them into your power and you defeat them, you must put them to death. You must
not make a treaty with them or spare them. You must not intermarry with them, neither giving you
daughters to their sons nor taking their daughters for your sons: if you do, they will draw your sons away
from the Lord and make them worship other gods. Then the Lord will be angry with you and quickly
destroy you. But this is what you must do to them: pull down their altars, break their sacred pillars, hack
down their sacred poles and destroy their idols by fire, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the

Lord your God chose you out of all the nations on earth to be his special possession.

Jehovah also warned the Jews against reformers who may appear among them. ^When a prophet or
dreamer appears among you and offers you a sign or a portent and calls on you to follow other gods whom
you have not known and worshipped, then, even if the sign or portent should come true, do not listen to the

words of that prophet or that dreamer^ That prophet or that dreamer shall he put to death, for he has
preached rebellion against the Lord who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the path which
the Lord your God commanded you to take. You must rid yourselves of this wickedness.^ - The gate was

thus slammed for ever against any second thoughts on the subject. The Israelites were to remain in the
prisonhouse of monotheism for all time to come.

The conquest of the promised land proceeded apace, accompanied by unmitigated slaughter and
rapine.— Jehovah commanded his servants again and again not to leave alive anything that breathes. ^So
Joshua massacred the population of the whole region-the hill country, the Nageb, the Shephelah, the
watersheds-and all their kings. He left no survivor, destroying everything that drew breath as the Lord God

of Israel had commanded. Jehovah took credit for all the victories and waxed eloquent in self¬
adulation.

But as the war of conquest drew to a close and the Jews settled down in the promised land they reverted
more and more to the normal human habit of worshipping the Divine in many Names and Forms. They
intermarried with the neighbouring non-Jewish tribes, defying the ban which Jehovah had imposed on
them. The foreign brides brought their own Gods, and also priests who tended to those Gods. The defiance
of Jehovah reached a new high in the reign of Solomon. He had seven hundred wives, most of them foreign

princesses, and three hundred concubines who ^turned his heart to follow other gods.^>— Jehovah warned
him twice but to no avail. Solomon simply ignored him, and he could not do a thing. He consoled himself
that he was sparing Soloman for the sake of the latter^s father. King David.

The Jewish kingdom split into two after the death of Solomon-Israel in the north with its seat at Samaria,
and Judah in the south with its seat at Jerusalem. The scribes who wrote the story of Solomon credited

Jehovah with a curse which broke the kingdom after Solomon^s death. It was wisdom after the event. In
any case, the worship of other gods continued unabated. Ahab, king of Israel, had married a foreign
princess, Jezebel, who was a devotee of Baal. Temples were built for the new God where his priests
presided. Ahab himself paid homage to him. Elijah, a self-appointed prophet, admonished the king but was
dismissed with contempt. So Elijah took resort to trickery. He invited the priests of Baal to Mount Carmel
in order to demonstrate to them the superiority of Jehovah over Baal. His swordsem who lay in ambush

seized four hundred and fifty priests. Elijah himself ^took them down the Kishon and slaughtered them in
the valley.^— Then he ran away for dear life because queen Jezebel had summoned him.

The mantle of Elijah fell on Elisha. He earned his well-deserved reputation as a prophet by cursing some
naughty children, forty-two of whom were torn to pieces by she-bears.— He egged on an adventurer, Jehu,
who seized the throne of Israel after slaughtering the sons of Ahab, and getting Jezebel thrown out of a

palace window so that ^some of the blood splashed on the wall and the horses who trampled her under

foot.^>— The worship of Baal, however, was far from finished in the kingdom, and many of his priests
were still around. Guided by Elisha, Jehu announced that he, too, had become a devotee of Baal and was
holding a great sacrifice in the big temple in the capital city. He invited all the priests of Baal and saw to it
that all of them assembled. His armed guard fell on them suddenly and slaughtered them to the last man.
The idols in the temple were brought out and burnt. The sacred poles were broken and the sacred pillars
pulled down. The temple was turned into a lavatory. Jehovah blessed the enterprise and confirmed the
kingdom in the family of Jehu for four generations.— Elisha lived thereafter a much satisfied man who had
fulfilled his mission.

An so on, the story snowballs through the rest of the books in the Bible. The common people in the two
kingdoms relapse into polytheism and idol-worship, again and again. More prophets appear on the scene
and do what Elijah and Elisha had done.— Each succeeding prophet turns out to be a gangster greater than
the preceding one. They curse and torment their own people, and invoke calamites on them. But as the
people remain indifferent to them, they feel utterly helpless and console themselves by praying for the

^great day^> when the Lord will destroy all other gods together with those who worshipped them.^

Jehovah himself had always been intemperate in his language vis-a-vis those who strayed away from the
straight path. But as he feels more and more helpless in the face of his peopled ^obstinacy^, his
language becomes increasingly foul and ends by being downright obscene. He views the worship of other
gods as adultery and fornication, and denounces both kingdoms as harlots given to wilful whoredom.

He addresses his prophet Ezekiel and says: ^Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her
abominations—^ And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, that thou hast also built unto thee an

eminent place and made thee a high place in every street^ and hast opened thy feet to every one that
passed, and multiplied thy whoredoms.— Thou has also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy
neighbours, great of flesh—^ They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and

hirest them, that they may come unto thee from every side for thy whoredom—^ O harlot, hear the words
of the Lord: Thus saith the Lord God: Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered
through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations^ I will gather all thy
lovers with whom thou has taken pleasured I will gather them round about against thee, and will discover

thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness^ And I will also give thee into their hands^
and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. And they shall bum thy
houses with fire^ and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shall give no hire
any more.^—

In another message to the same prophet, Jehovah says, ^Son of man, there were two women, the daughters
of the same mother. And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth :
there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. - Turning to Samaria,

he pronounces: ^Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her,
and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredoms upon her. ^►— Coming back to
Jerusalem, his language becomes filthier. ^ And when her sister saw this, she was more corrupt in her
inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms^ For she doted
upon their paramours whose flesh is as the flesh of asses and whose issue is like the issue of horses.^—

Jehovalr^s character, as portrayed in the Bible, can now be summed up. He behaves like a bully and a
coward par excellence, apart from his proclaiming, again and again, that he is a hardened gangster who has
committed many crimes. He takes the whole credit every time the Jews are victorious and commit slaughter
and rapine. But when the tables are turned on the Jews, he turns tail and blames the Jews for betraying him
by worshipping other gods. The Jews on their part try to return to monotheism, and its concomitant,
iconoclasm, again and again, on being admonished by their prophets. But their situation does not improve.
They get defeated and enslaved successively by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the
Mecedonians, the Seleucids, and the Romans. In the final round, the only country which they had occupied

after making rivers of blood flow is lost to them for ever, and Jehovah ^>s only temple at Jerusalem is
destroyed from the foundations, never to be built again. Jehovah does not bat an eye. He remains unshaken
in the hallucination that he is the Lord.

His final volte-face on the Jews is simply breath-taking. Another self-appointed prophet named Jesus
follows in the footsteps of his predecessors and harangues the Jews to repent, for the Last Day is drawing
near. He shows some miracles, collects crowds, and gets picked up by the Roman police as a disturber of
peace. Jehovah does not lift his little finger to save the his prophet from a cruel and shameful death; Jesus is

crucified along with two common thieves. The prophets that follow beat their Lord^s record in double-
talk. On the one hand, they pin down the crime of the Jews, so that this already tormented people gets
subjected to repeated pogroms for two thousand years. On the other hand, they spread the abominable
superstition that Jesus was the Christ who mounted the cross willingly and voluntarily in order to wash with
his own blood the sins of mankind!— Knavery, thy name is prophethood.

Reading the Bible between the lines, however, one cannot resist the conclusion that Jehovah^>s blessing as
well cursing is no more than wisdom by hindsight. Howsoever awsome he may sound, particularly because
he has been for a long time the god of nations with bigger guns, he remains a contrived creation of a closed
and cruel theology mounted mechanically on purely mundane happening. He does not exist and has never
existed outside that theology, neither in history nor in any high heaven. The only dwelling place which can
be assigned to him is in the dark drives of human nature. He has possessed successively or he has been
appropriated by some bandit formations bent upon wanton aggression in order to carve out predatory
empires. The fact that these formations advertise themselves as the Church or the Ummah should deceive
no one.

Christianity which took over bodily the closed theology of Judaism committed the same crimes on a far
more extensive scale. This is not the place to describe what the Christian theologians, missionaries and
swordsmen did to the pagan people and their places of worship in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and
the Oceania; for the present we are dealing with the Islamic theology of iconoclasm, and the Bible has
come in because it is the source of that scourge. What we wish to point out is that in every case the Bible

was their guidebook. ^The introduction of Christianity, and more especially its establishment in the
Roman Empire in the fourth century of our era, proved the destruction of pagan idols, however skilfully
and elegantly formed. The crusade against the statues of gods commenced in the latter part of the reign of
Constantine and continued gradually to advance, until under Theodosius the Younger it pervaded all parts
of the Empire. Not that the Christians despised art or were incapable of appreciating aesthetic excellence,
whether in painting or in sculpture, but their hostility to pagan idols was wholly of a religious

nature.^— Nearer home and as late as the sixteenth century, ^ At least from 1540 onwards, and in the
island of Goa before-that year, all the Hindu idols had been annihilated or had disappeared,— all the Hindu
temples had been destroyed and their sites and building material were in most cases utilized to erect new

Christian churches and chapels.^ A complete history of Christian iconoclasm world-wide has yet to be
compiled. But judging from what we find scattered in the histories of Christianity in different countries,
there is enough evidence that for a long time the Bible left a trail of devastation wherever it went.

Footnotes:

- Exod. 15.3,14.

2 Gen. 35.2,4.

2 Exod. 19.19.

- Exod. 20.2-5; See also Exod. 20.23; 23.13,24; 34.17; Lev. 19.4; 26.1; Deut. 4.16, 23-24; 27.14-
15; Jos. 24.14,23; Isa. 42.8; Ezech. 20.6-8, 15-18, 23-24, 28-31, 39.

5 Exod. 22.20; Lev. 20-1-5; Deut. 17.2-5.

- Exod. 32.20. Islamic invaders of India repeated the performance many times after burning Hindu
idols. Mahmud of Ghazni is the first to be credited with it in Muslim annals.

- Exod. 32.26-29. See also Deut. 13.6-11; 17.2-5

-Lev. 26.27-33. See also Deut. 4.25-28; 6.14-15; 8.9-20; 30.17-18; 31.16-18; 32.16-17,21,23-25,
37-42; Jos. 23.16; 24,20, 1 Kings 11.1-13, 2 Chr. 7.19-20; 34,24-25; Ps. 16.4; Isa. 19.1-4; Jer.
5.19; 7.16-20; 11.9-11; 16.18-21; 17.1-4; 18.21; 44.15-27; Ezech. 6.3-7, 13-14; 8.7-18; 16.35-43;
Hos. 2.4-6; 10-13; 8.3-7; 10.1-8; 11.2-6; 13.1-3; Mich. 1.6-7; 5.13-14; Nah. 1.14; Zeph. 1.4-6.,
Zach. 11.17; Rev. 2.21-23.

- Deut. 4.28. See also Ps. 115.4-8; 134.15-18; Isa. 37.12,19,38; 41.22-24; 44.9-20. 46.6-7; Jer.

10.1- 5, 8-9, 14-15; 16.20; Zach. 10.2; 1 Cor. 8.4.

-Deut. 7.26. See also Deut. 12.29-31; Jer. 4.1; 6.15; Acts 15.20; 1 Cor. 10.14;2 Cor. 6.15-18;
Eph. 5.5; Col. 3.5; 1 Jn. 5.21.

u Deut. 32.37-38; Judges 10.13-14; Ps. 96.5; 97.7; Jer. 2.28.

- Deut. 7.1-6. See also Exod. 23.23-24, 27.32-33; 34.10, 12-17; Num. 33.50-56; Deut. 7.16. 23-
26; 8.19-20, 12.1-3; Jos. 6.17; 8.1-8, 28-29; 23.7.

-Deut. 13.1-5. See also Deut. 13.12-16; 18.20.

- See Jos. 6.21-24; 8.22-25, 28-29; 10.5-40.

-Jos. 10.40. See also Jos. 11.5-6, 8-9.

16 1 Kings 11.1-5.

- 1 Kings 18.17-40.

- 2 Kings 2.23-24.

-2 Kings 9.33.

-2 Kings 10.18-30.

-See 2 Kings 11.17-18; 23.4-6,8,10-14; 15-16,19-20,24; 1 Chr. 14.8-12; 2 Chr. 14.2-5,23.17;

33.1- 15; 34.3-7 for some of the stories.

- See Isa. 2.18-21; 17.7-8; 31.7-8.

- Ezech. 16.2. ^Abominations^ means ^idols^.

— Ezech. 16.23-25. In plain language ^eminent placed and ^>high placed mean a ^brothel.^
The reference is to temples of other gods which came up in every street. ^Opened thy feet to
everyone that passed^ means worshipping every other god.

— Ezech. 16.26. ^Great of flesh ^ in plain language means ^possessing a big male organ. ^ The
reference is to the size of gods from Egypt.

— Ezech. 16.33. What is meant by this passage is that people of Jerusalem worship gods who
cannot reward them in exchange for their devotion. Jehovah cannot understand any worship which
is spontaneous and without expectation of reward. He is fond of making convenants with his
devotees, no matter whether he can fulfil them or not. He also threatens punishments, no matter
whether he can carry them out or not.

— Ezech. 16.35-41. Jehovah threatens to get Jerusalem destroyed by those very nations whose
gods are worshipped in that kingdom. He will take credit when Jerusalem is attacked and
destroyed by other nations, though he will have no hand in mobilizing the attacks. He is always
wise after the event and his scribes pre-date his presence in the stories.

— Ezech. 23-2-3. The passage means that the Jews used to worship others gods while they were in
Egypt. Jehovah has a dirty mind and cannot help resorting to obscene language for stating simple
facts which he finds unpleasant for his inflated ego. His language became the stock-in-trade of
Christian and, later on, Muslim theologians.

-Ezech. 23.8

— Ezech. 23.11-20. ^Flesh^> means the ^>male organ^ and ^issue^ the ^semen^ which
pours out in orgasm. What is meant is that the people of Jerusalem loved to worship large-sized
idols. See also Jer. 2.23-28; 3.1-2, 6-9, 13; 5.7-8; 11.13-15; 13.26-27; Ezech. 23.40-44; Hos. 1-2;
2.2; 3.1; 4.12-14; 5.3-4; 6.10; 9.1; Nah. 3.4-6. The same language is used for pagan Rome in Rev.
2.14,20-23; 14.8; 17.2; 18.3,9; 19.2. Early Christian missionaries in India used the same language
for idol-worship by Hindus who felt puzzled because their morals were far better than those of the
contemporary Christians. The language had to be deciphered before Hindus could grasp its import.

— According to some Bible scholars Jesus himself staged his crucifiction in order to prove to his
own advantage some Old Testament prophecies, and survived the ordeal to spread the story that he
had risen from the dead. But here we are concerned with the version hawked by Christian tradition
and theology.

— Rev. James Gardner, Faiths of the World, London, 1860, New Delhi Reprint, 1986, Vol. I, p.
306. What Christian iconoclasm did in the Roman Empire has been partly documented in Pierre
Chuvin, A Chronicle of the Last Pagans, Harvard University Press, U.S.A., 1990.

— Hindus away quite a few of their idols and installed them in temples beyond the reach of the
Christian missionaries who were protected by the Portuguese pirates.

— T.R. de Souza in M.D. David (ed.), Western Colonialism in Asia and Christianity, Bombay, 1988, p. 18.

The destruction in Goa has been documented in A.K. Priolkar, The Goa Inquisition, Bombay, 1962
(reprinted by Voice of India, 1991), and that in Madras by Ishwar Sharm, The Myth of St. Thomas and the
Mylapore Shiva Temple, Voice of India, 1991. What the Jesuits did in Pondicherry under the French has
been summarized from the Diary of Anand Ranga Pillai in Sita Ram Goel, History of Hindu-Christian

Encounters, Voice of India, 1989, pp. 377-86.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE BIBLE APPEARS IN ARABIC

The Qur^an can, without an exaggeration, be called the Bible in Arabic so far as its dominant theme is
concerned. That dominant theme is monotheism with all its implications, of which the most important is
iconoclasm. Our judgement is confirmed by the way the pagan Arabs responded to the Qur^an.

The Allah of the Qur^an announced again and again that he was making his revelations available in the
Arabic language so that the Arabs could have a scripture of their own.- The response from the Arabs,
however, was far from positive. Biographers of the prophet inform us that the more the pagan Arabs came

to know the Qur^an the more hostile they became to it, till the man through whose mouth it was being
conveyed left Mecca in total frustration. The only Arab audience which the Prophet could find was in
Yathrib (Medina), the City of the Book.

Today the Qur^an is regarded, not by the Muslims alone, as the greatest classic ever composed in the
Arabic language. But the people to whom the language belonged before it was usurped by Islam, took no
such pride in the composition. On the contrary, they felt extremely annoyed that their ancient language was
being misused for a very profane purpose by a person whom, as we shall see, they thought demented and
possessed by evil spirits.

We can very well understand their reaction to the Qur^an if we consider its contents without being taken
in by the hallow which has been built around it in centuries after the pagan Arabs were made to disappear
from the scene. It is certainly a very strange document in Arabic which says precious little about Arabia, its
geography, its history, its people, its society and its age-old culture, and pours unmitigated contempt on its
religion and ways of worship. The pagan Arabs were not at all wrong if they concluded that Allah of the

Qur^an was reducing their language to an empty shell in order to pack it with chronicles, characters and
concepts that were not only alien but also wholly distasteful to them. We at this distance in time can see
more clearly that Allah was doing to Arabic what the Founding Fathers of the Christian Church had done to
Greek and Latin, and what Lenin will do to Russian and Mao Tse-tung to Chinese, that is, using a language
as a convenient cover for doctrines calculated to destroy the culture which has produced it, and devastate
the land in which it has flourished.

The Qur^an does not contain a single worthwhile story from pre-Islamic Arabia, unless we accept as facts
of history its concoctions about Abraham and the Ka^ba. For all its bulk, it is full of stories borrowed

bodily from the Bible except for a few minor details where Allah ^ s memory falters or the latter-day
Jewish tradition has offered embellishments. All its heroes are the biblical prophets. The list includes Adam
(Adam), Nuh (Noah), Idris (Enoch), Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma^il (Ishmael), Ishaq (Issac), Lut (Lot),
Yaqub (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Musa (Moses), Harun (Aaron), Talut (Saul), Da^Kid (David), Sulayman

(Solomon), Ilyas (Elijah), Alyas a ^ (Elisha), Ayyub (Job), Hizqil (Ezekiel), Yunus (Jonah), Zakariya
(Zacharias), Yahya (John the Baptist), and Isa Masih (Jesus Christ). Maryam (Mary), the mother of Jesus,
is also there. The only prophets who do not figure in the Bible are Hud, Salih and Shua^ib. They,
however, remain shadowy characters whose parentage and place of functioning cannot be determined with
certainty. They look like figments of Allah^s imagination. In any case, they have been brought in only for
playing the role in which their brothers from the Bible are cast, that is, cursing their own people and
praying to Allah to rain disasters on them.

The lion^s share in the stories of the Qur^an goes to Banu Israeli (Children of Israel), that is, the
biblical Jews. In these stories Allah identifies himself with Jehovah and their tenor remains the same as in
the Bible. Allah reminiscences how he entered into a covenant with Abraham, and brought back his
progeny from Egypt and into the promised land. Abraham is presented as the first Muslim which is the
same as the first circumcised Jew. It is, however, Moses who looms larger than every other prophet. He is

the subject of a large number of verses in the Qur^an. He provides the perfect model which Allah expects
Muhammad to follow faithfully.

Muhammad himself is lifted clean out of his own people and pagan environment, and placed squarely and
firmly in the family of biblical prophets." Allah informs him that he is the Last Prophet- anticipated by the
earlier prophets and in the older scriptures.- He is also assured that he is by no means alone in the midst of

^►ignorant pagans^ and that he can always turn for help to those ^who read the earlier Scripture (that

was) before you.^ 1 For, what is being revealed to him was also revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Issac,
Jacob, Moses and Jesus.-

The main theme of the Qur^an is also the same as that of the Bible, namely, a fierce war between
monotheism ( tauhid) on the one hand, and idolatry (shirk) on the other. The only difference is that this time
we miss most of Jehovah^s thunder. Allah too, condemns, curses, and tries to frighten those who do not
accept him as the only god, and refuse to accept Muhammad as the last prophet. He also tells stories of
earlier people whom he had destroyed for their failure to follow his prophets. But the fury of the original

gets diluted in the imitation. It must also be said to the credit of the Qur^an that its Allah does not employ
obscene language. That may be due to the personal culture of the Prophet, or to the fact that, unlike
Jehovah, Allah did not have to face failure. He is certainly modest while introducing himself, which he

does mostly in the third person. But the proposition remains unaltered. ^He is Allah,^ he says, ^and
there is no god save H i m ^ Your God is only Allah than whom there is no other god^ He is Allah the
One^> He is only One God^ Your God is One God. ^ Once in a while the proposition is put in the form
of questions, ^Is there any other god beside Allah? ^ Or have they other gods?^ The answer is always
provided by Allah himself and is invariably an emphatic The refrain runs throughout the Qur^an.

The only compromise which Allah makes with his self-proclaimed status of absolute exclusiveness is in
favour of prophets whom he needs from time to time in order to advertise his claims and extend his

dominion. ❖Lo ! Your Lord is Allah, he says, ^Who created the heaven and the earth in six days, then
established Himself on the Throne, directing all things. There is no intercessor with Him except after His
permission. That enables him to appoint the latest prophet and provide the second part of the Kalima,
^►Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. ^

The principal task assigned to the Prophet is to see that Allah alone is worshipped, obeyed and served, and
to wage a relentless war against Allah^s rivals. Here, too, Allah prefers to guide the Prophet at every stage
of the campaign-how to launch an ideological blitzkrieg against the other gods and those who worship
them; how to indoctrinate and marshal into a militant formation all those who opt for Allah and break the
kinship ties which bind them to their ancestral society; when and how to go on the offensive at selected
fronts or all along the line; how to amass booty including the women and children of the idolaters, and
apportion it among the faithful; how to force the defeated and the demoralised adversaries into the
victorions fold; and how to annihilate pagan religion and culture till not a trace of them survives. Some

portions of the Qur^an, particularly the Medinese Suras, do sound like chapters in a treatise on war.-

Iconoclasm in the Qur^an

The verses ( ayats ) which deal with idolatry and idolaters lie scattered in all chapters (suras) of the
Qur^an; taken together they constitute the largest number, particularly in the Meccan Suras, as compared
to those devoted to other subjects. Many a time, the verses occur in the stories of prophets who came before
Muhammad. But it is more than obvious that they are addressed to the pagan contemporaries of the
Prophet. We have collected and collated them under several sections as the theme develops, stage by stage.

till it reaches its climax, that is, Allah^s threat to destroy all peoples and human settlements where gods
other than him are honoured.

The Mother gods^ mean idols, most of the time; this is clear by the word Sanam (pi. aSnam ) which stands
for carved statues, and wathan (pi .awtlian) which stands for simple stones, trimmed or untrimmed.
Sometimes the Mother gods^ are the Stars, the Sun and the Moon as well; we have seen that worship of
these heavenly bodies was prevalent in pagan Arabia. But the description which we find most frequent in
the Qur^an is ^partners ascribed to Allah. The technical term used for this ascription is shirk which

literally means ^mixing^ or ^associating^. The idolaters are consequently called mushriks , which term
has acquired a stink in Islamic parlance. Witnessing the tantrums which Allah throws constantly about
^partners ascribed to h i in ^, we are left with a strong impression that the pagans had never neglected
Allah; they only preferred to worship him surrounded by his numerous companions who were his own
Aspects, Names and Forms.-

Surveying the scene in pagan Arabia, Allah of the Qur^an notices with great anger as well as anguish that,
though most of them worship Allah, they always ascribe partners to him. What is worse, they worship
females such as Al-Lat, Al-Manat and Al-^Uzza, calling them daughters of Allah.— They do not know
that Allah never had a consort and, therefore, no sons or daughters. They are also unfair to Allah when they
burden him with daughters, while they prefer sons for themselves.— Allah informs the idolaters that these

female deities are ^mere names^ invented by their forefathers and repeated by them, and that the worship
of other gods, male or female, has received ^no warrant^, that is no scriptural authority. The

^►idolaters ^ are also accused of dividing their offerings between Allah and the partners ascribed to
him. But no offerings ever reach Allah because the partners grab his portion as well as their own. And their
worship in the Ka^ba is ^naught but whistling and handclapping.^ — It seems that, like pagans
everywhere and at all times, the pagans of Arabia also worshipped their Gods with song and dance.

Allah also complains that the pagans pray to Allah only when they are in trouble, but turn to other gods as
soon as they are out of it. If asked why they do not worship Allah alone and always, they say that they

follow ^the way of their forefathers^; they do not know that their forefathers were ^unintelligent^ and

had received ^>no guidance^. They also forget that it is Allah who has created them and provides for
them. On the contrary, they have invented lies in support of which they come out with no proof. And they
persist in their error even when a Book has been sent to them. They have chosen mere ^slaves^ as their
protectors instead of the ^master^, without realizing that slaves control nothing and can protect no one.

Nor do they grasp the ^simple truths that if there were gods beside Allah, both heaven and earth would
have got disordered. The most unkindest cut of all, however, is that they invite Muhammad to disbelieve in
Allah and turn to their gods. But Muhammad has not only no knowledge of their gods, he has also received
proof to the contrary. It is the same proof which the earlier prophets had received. The idolaters thus

compound their error by trying to drag Allah^s prophet down to their own degenerate level.—

Turning to Muhammad, Allah issues a stern command: ^Say: O mankind! If you are in doubt about my
religion then (know) that I worship not what you worship instead of Allah, but I worship Allah who causeth
you to die, and I have been commanded to be of the believers^ 1 - There is no compulsion in religion. The
right direction is henceforth distinct from error, and he who rejects false deities and believes in Allah alone
has grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower. fk

Coming to the Mother gods^, the cause of the whole quarrel, Allah makes it quite clear that he himself
has not appointed them, nor authorised their worship. The prophets and scriptures sent by him earlier can
be consulted on the subject. He challenges the ^idolaters^ to produce proof to the contrary, if they have
any. On the other hand, he has sent a scripture to Muhammad confirming the earlier prophets, and
prohibiting the pagan practices in very clear words. The other gods ^possess not an atom ^s weight either
in heaven or on earth, nor have they any share in either^. They do not ^own so much as the white spot on
a datestone4>. ! -

Allah waxes eloquent about his own creation, which includes everything in the cosmos; the Qur^an is
crowded with verses in which its author revels in unbounded self-adultation. The exercise over, he
challenges the ^idolaters^ to produce evidence that their gods have ever created anything. The truth, he

says, is that they cannot create but are themselves created. They are dead, not living. If the ^idolaters^
want to know the worth of their gods, they should call them (the gods) and wait for an answer; they will
wait in vain. For, the gods have no ears with which they may hear, and no eyes with which they may see.
Also, they have no feet with which they may walk, and no hands with which they may hold anything. They
are helpless, and dwell in darkness.—

Being deaf, dumb, blind and without limbs, the other gods can neither help anyone, nor hurt. If a fly
snatches away something from them, they do not have the strength to get it back. They are as frail and

fragile as a spider^s web. They cannot come to the rescue of those whom Allah wants to hurt. Those who
hope to be helped by the other gods on the Last Day, are in for great disappointment; they (the gods) have
not been given any power of intercression on anyone^s behalf. They can lead their devotees only to doom
because they are ^Satan^s handiworks^ like ^strong drink and games of chance.

The test will come on the Day of Judgment. Allah is, however, in two minds about what will happen on that
fateful day.

According to one version, his messengers will round up the ^idolaters ^ and ask them about the
whereabouts of their gods. The ^idolaters^ will say that the gods have ^departed^, that is, taken to

their heels. At the same time, the ^idolaterswill confess that they ^Miave been disbelievers^. They
will be brought before Allah who will ask the angels in his court whether they (angels) were the ones whom
the ^idolatersworshipped. The angels will plead not-guilty and name the jinns. Allah will then turn to
the ^idolatersand ask them why they had come alone and not accompanied by their gods. The

^►idolaterswill deny that they were idolaters. Allah^s verdict after their denial is not recored.— But it
can be guessed that, because they were not believers, they will be consigned to eternal hell-fire, maybe of a
lesser degree.

The second version is more consistent and in keeping with the spirit of the Qur^an. It says that Allah will

command: ^Assemble those who did wrong together with their wives and what they used to worship.^

All of them will be brought before Allah. He will start by interrogating the gods. He will ask whether they
misled the ^idolaters or the latter went astray on their own. The gods will declare that they did not
choose their worshippers, but were chosen for worship without their consent; the forefathers of the
^►idolatershad gone astray because Allah had ^made it easy^> for them, and the succeeding
generations had followed in their footsteps. Thus the gods will disassociate themselves from their devotees

and plead their own innocence. They will, however, admit that they might have misled others because they
themselves were in error. The ^idolaterswill feel outraged and shout at the gods, ^Didn^t you come
to us from the right and the left. Why are you blaming us alone?^ The gods will remain unrepentant. They

will hit back, ^ You were unbelievers on your own. We had no power to influence you.^> 1 What we find
intriguing in this drama on the Day of Judgment is that the gods who were dead, blind, deaf, dumb and
without any brains whatsoever, become alive all of a sudden, start seeing, hearing and speaking, and
display wits like those of smart lawyers!

Allah confides that he will set the devils to sow confusion in the camp of idolatry. The gods will turn
against their worshippers, and vice versa. The doors of hell will be opened and the ^idolaters ^ will be
thrown into blazing fire. It is then that they will admit that they were wrong-doers and bewail that their
gods had failed them. They will wish to have another life on earth, so that they may be among the believers.
But it will be too late. Bound in chains, they will be dragged through boiling waters. No mediator will
come forward to mediate for them.—

Next, Allah recites the record of earlier prophets and wise men vis-a-vis the idols and idolaters. We will
relate it chronologically.

Abraham chided his father Ezra and his people for being idolaters. He also rejected the worship of Stars,
the Moon and the Sun, all of which he saw setting after rising. His people argued with him in favour of the
ancestral way of worship. He asked them to produce scriptural proof in defence of their gods. At the same
time, he sought forgiveness from Allah for his father. He harangued his father not to worship those who
neither hear, nor see, nor are helpful in any way. His father rejected the advice and threatened to stone him.
Abraham now decided to demonstrate the worthlessness of the gods. He sneaked into a place of worship
when his people were away and smashed all the idols to pieces except the biggest one among them. The
people, when they came back and saw the scene, made enquiries. Some youngmen who had seen Abraham
doing the deed reported the matter to them. So Abraham was questioned. He pointed an accusing finger at
the big idol and said that the big one had smashed the smaller ones, and that the truth could be found out by

questioning the pieces. His people said that idols were not known to speak. He shouted back, ^ Why then

do you worship them? Fie on you and what you worship!^ They got angry and tried to bum him alive. But
Allah cooled the fire and saved him. He told his people that it was not he but they and their gods who were
fuel for hell-fire, where they will be tormented for ever. Then he separated himself from his people and

proclaimed, ^'I here has arisen between us and you hostility and hatred for ever until you believe in
Allah. ^ Before he left, he informed his father, have sought forgiveness for you, though I know nothing
for you from Allah. ^ His devotion was rewarded by Allah with a son, Issac, and a grandson, Jacob. —

Moses found his people adoring the golden calf soon after he brought them out of Egypt. He ordered them
to slaughter with their own hands those among them who had gone astray. It was done. Moses also cursed
Samiri, the man who had connived at the worship of the golden calf, so that Samiri became a leper in this
life and fuel for hell-fire in the next. Moses burnt the golden calf and scattered the ashes on the sea.—

Solomon was informed by his pet hooper that the people of Saba^ (Sheba of the Bible) were ruled by a

woman and worshipped the Sun instead of Allah. He wrote to the Queen of Saba^ demanding that she and
her people should come to the true faith. The Queen took fright and consulted her chieftains who went in a
delegation to Solomon with rich presents. The king spurned the presents and demanded that the Queen be

present in his court to settle the matter. The Queen had no choice. She went to Jerusalem, saw Solomon ^s
power, and accepted that there was no god beside Allah.—

Elijah warned his people not to worship Ba^al. They disregarded his advice and will face the doom on the

Day of Judgment. Luqman advised his son not to be an idolater and serve his parents. But if anvonc^s
parents pressed their son to ascribe partners to Allah, they were to be disobeyed. Ties of faith stood above
ties of kinship. Coming down the road of time, seven young men in Palestine took refuge inside a cave and
went to sleep when they saw their people degenerating into idolatry. They slept for three hundred years and
thought it only a day when they were awakened by Allah. One of them went out to find food and
discovered that the Roman Empire was rid of idolatry and worshipped Allah alone. The people in the town
also learnt about the true believers in the cave and hailed them as followers of Jesus Christ. A mosque was
erected over their graves when the seven faithful died after some time.—

Some of these stories are repeated several times and spread over several Suras. Allah tells them for the
benefit of the ^idolaters ^ of Arabia. He exhorts them to follow the path of Abraham, Moses, Solomon,
Elijah, Luqman and the seven young men; otherwise they were bound to become fuel for hell-fire. Had
there been any other gods, they themselves would have tried to reach the throne and usurp Allah ^ s

authority; there would have been disorder in heaven as well as on earth.— If the ^idolaters^ fail to repent,
Allah threatens to cast terror in their hearts; he tells them clear and loud that their abode will be hell-fire.

He can never forgive idolatry which is the greatest crime. They will find no escape from the torments in

hell, which is their journey^s end. There will be an awning of fire above them, and a floor of fire
underneath; they will not be able to drive it away from their faces, nor from their backs. We are leaving out
the blood-curdling accounts, which abound in the Qur^an, about what the fire will do to the victims, again
and again, and for ever and ever.—

Finally, Allah bares his fangs and comes out in his true colours. ^ And how many generations,^ he
thunders, ^We destroyed before them!^ Had they any place of refuge?^ and they cried out when it was

no longer time for escaped Not one of them but denied the messenger, therefore My doom was justified^
We seized them unawares and lo! they were dumb-founded. So of the people who did wrong the last
remnant was cut off^ And the heavens and the earth wept not for them, nor were they reprieved^ How
many townships have we destroyed! As a raid by night, or while they slept at noon. Our terror came upon
them^ Have they not travelled in the land and seen the nature of the consequences for those who were
before them, and they were mightier than these in power? Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Travel in the
land and see the nature of the sequel for the guilty! ^ And when We would destroy a township. We send
commandments to its folk who live at ease, and afterwards they commit abomination therein, and so the
word (of doom) hath effect for it, and we annihilate it with complete annihilation^ There is not a township
but we shall destroy it ere the Day of Resurrection and punish it with dire punishment^ And we verily

have destroyed townships round about you^ Allah struck at the foundations of their buildings, and then
the roof fell down upon them from above them, and the doom came upon them whence they knew
not^ Are they who plan ill-deeds then secure that Allah will not cause the earth to swallow them? ^H)r
that He will not seize them in their going to and fro so that there be no escape for them? ^>So think not that
Allah will fail to keep His promise to His messenger. Lo! Allah is Mighty, Able to Requite.^

Lest the idolaters entertain the illusion that Allah is bragging and does not mean business, he names the
tribes and towns he destroyed in olden times. Nuh had warned his people repeatedly against idolatry. But
they refused to renounce the gods of their forefathers. Allah sent heavy rains, waters rose on all sides, and
they were drowned.— Hud taught his people in Ad not to worship any gods besides Allah. They too were
not prepared to give up the gods of their forefathers. Allah sent violent storms which raged for seven nights

and eight days, and they were swept away.— Salih was sent as a prophet to his people in Thamud. He
invited them to worship Allah alone and throw away their idols. They did not listen to him. Instead, they
hamstrung his camel. Allah caused an earthquake along with a great thunderclap in the sky, which turned

their town upside down and they were buried in the debris.— Lut lived in Sadum when Allah^s angels
arrived to punish the inhabitants for their sinfulness. The prophet advised them to repent and seek refuge in
Allah. They turned a deaf ear and threatened to throw him out. Allah rained stones on them, and the town

together with its people was totally destroyed.— Shua^ib invited the people of Madayan (Midian) to turn
to Allah. Their chiefs invited him to renounce Islam. Allah^s wrath caught up with them.— Musa and

Harun were sent to Fir^Kin (Pharoah), and showed him many signs from Allah. But Fir^un refused to
become a believer, and threatened to imprison the prophets. He was drowned in the sea along with his
army.— The ^dwellers of Ar-Raas^ and 4>folk of Tubba^^ also denied the messengers whom Allah
had sent to them. They were wiped out.—

Allah of the Qur^an now throws away the mask he has worn in order to pass as Allah of the pagan Arabs.
He comes out in his true colours. He is no other than the old Jehovah of the Bible, the hardened gangster
we have met in the earlier section. And like his earlier incarnation, he, too, is a denizen of the dark depths
in human nature. Only the situation in which Jehovah alias Allah intends to operate this time is totally
different.

The Jews living in Egypt after the collapse of their patrons, the Hyksos conquerors, belonged to a
bedraggled community which had lost its moorings long ago. They hardly had a religion or culture of their
own and, therefore, were prone to succumb to whosoever promised to be a saviour. Jehovah had not found
it difficult to possess them through his mouthpiece, Moses, and terrorise them into more or less total
submission. Moreover, he had indoctrinated them for forty long years before he led them into the promised
land. The land was not their own, and they could slaughter and despoil its natives without inhibitions
imposed by ties of kinship and a shared culture. The Jews could never stand up to Jehovah or question the
doctrines he had taught them. Whenever they lapsed into natural religion normal to mankind, they suffered
from a bad conscience. That is why prophets could always find a ready audience and flourish among them.
Jehovah had a safe constituency even when he failed to fulfil his promises, or carry out his threats.

The pagans of Arabia whom Allah of the Qur^an had to face were, however, an altogether different cup of
tea. The land in which they lived was the one in which their forefathers had lived and prospered far ages
past. They had an ancient religion and culture of which they were mighty proud. They were not at all on the
lookout for a new cult or a saviour who could rescue them from a miserable state, or lead them into a

promised land. They did not cast covetous eyes on other people^s patrimony, while they zealously
guarded their own. They had a first-hand experience of monotheism during the short-lived Jewish regime in
Yemen, and the Abyssinian invasion that followed. They felt amused by prophets foaming at the mouth,
and dismissed them either as poets, or magicians, or plain lunatics. Thus they were ill-prepared to receive
revelations from Allah or warm up to a privileged messenger.

The Qur^an has preserved portions of a debate which developed between the Meccans on the one hand

and Muhammad on the other. ^>The history then of the first years of Mohammed^s preaching at Mecca is
not without events, but it is, in the main, the history of a debate, and a debate in which the speeches of the
counsel of one side only are preserved. The Meccan Surahs of the Koran are rarely to be dated with
precision: many are reports or notes of the same course of lectures repeated over and over again by the
lecturer. Hence the order in which question after question was posed by the adversary is not

known. ^ - We are taking up that debate before we proceed to the other methods adopted by the Prophet
for subduing the pagans of Arabia and destroying their places of worship. Even in its state of partial and
partisan preservation, the debate provides deep insights into the working of the pagan mind, as also of the

mechanics of monotheism.

Footnotes:

1 Qur^an, 12.2; 20.113; 26.195; 41.3; 43.3.

2 Ibid., 4.163; 5.19; 7.157; 33.7; 36.3 among others.

2 Ibid., 33.40.

4 Ibid., 3.81; 7.157; 46.9; 61.6.

5 Ibid., 2.41; 3.199; 5.33; 10.94; 6.20, 114; 10.37; 17.107; 26.196; 28.52; 34.6; 46.10, 87.18.

- Ibid., 3.84; See also 5.44-46; 11.17; 45.16, 87.19.

1 Ibid., 10.3. See also 34.23.

- It is not an accident that Brigadier S.K. Malik of the Pakistan military establishment has quoted
copiously from the Qur^an in his77re Quranic Concept of War, Lahore (n. d), New Delhi Reprint,
1986. General Zia-ul-Haq, the late president of Pakistan, recommends the book which, in his own
words, ^brings out the Quranic philosophy on the application of military force within the context
of the totality that is Jehad, ft

- Some scholars think that Muhammad used the term ^partners ^ because he was a businessmen.

Allah of the Qur^an does sound like a racketeer out to consolidate a monopoly over worship
which humans offer to the Divine.

— A translator of the Qur^an observes in a footnote that these Arab Goddesses were like Lakshmi

and Sarasvati of the Hindus (Qurftdn Majid translated into Hindi by Muhammad Faruq Khan,
Rampur (U.P.), sixth reprint, 1976, p. 242). Hindus can accept the observation as a complement,
though the translator frowns upon their Goddesses as ft mere names without reference to any

existence.^ In any case, it establishes kinship between Hindus and the Arab pagans. Hindu Gods
and Godesses have invited the some invectives and physical onslaughts from the Islamic invaders
and their remanants as the Arab Gods and Godesses did from the Prophet and his flock.

— Allah of the Qur^an, like Jehovah of the Bible, has great contempt for females. See Qur^an,
16.57;37.149-53; 43.16-19; 52.39; 53.21-22,27; 65.1-7.

12 Qur^an, 12.106; 4.117; 6.101-102; 59.19-23; 6.137; 8.35.

- Ibid., 3.98; 2.170; 30.40; 18.15; 4.153; 18.102; 21.22; 40.42; 40.66.

— Ibid., 10.40.

— Ibid., 2.256. The first line of this verse is often cited by apologists of Islam in support of their
proposition that Islam stands for tolerance in matters of belief. The complete verse, however, says
quite clearly that the unbelievers have no business to persist in error after the right guidance has

come. All commentators on the Qur^an proclaim, in unmistakable language, that this verse
authorises Muslims to wipe out all other religions.

16 Ibid., 48.47; 21.24-25; 34.22; 35.13.

— Ibid., 31.11; 25.3; 16.17; 16.21; 7.194-194; 13.16.

— Ibid., 25.55; 21.43; 29.40; 17.56; 36.23; 19.15; 43.86; 5.90.

— Ibid., 7.37; 34.40-41; 6.22-23, 95.

— Ibid., 37.22; 25.17-19; 28.63; 37.28-30.

-Ibid., 19.82-83; 16.86., 26.19-102; 40.74; 74.48.

-Ibid., 6.75-82; 14.41; 19.42; 21.57-69, 98-100. 26 86: 60.4; 26.77.

^ Ibid., 2.54; 29.96-97.

-Ibid., 27.22-24.

^ Ibid., 37.123-128; 31.13-15; 18.9-21.

-Ibid., 3.95, 17.39;42; 21.22; 3.151;4.41; 14.30; 18.52; 39.16; 21.39.

— For detailed description of the torment see Ibid., 2.24; 4.56; 7.42; 10.4; 14.16-17; 17.97;

18.19;20.74; 22.19-22; 35.36-37; 44.44, 50; 69.30-36.

-Ibid, 50,36; 38.3.14; 6.44-45; 44.29; 7.4; 35.44; 27.69; 17.16,58; 46.27; 16.26,45,46; 14.47.

^ Able to Requited is a very mild translation of the Arabic &Aziz al-Intiqam which means
Lover of Vengeance^.

— Ibid., 71.21-28. The story is repeated in several other chapters.

— Ibid., 6.65., 7.70; 11.58; 26.136 140; 54.18-21. The story is repeated in several other chapters.

— Ibid., 7.73-74; 11.62-65; 26.158-159; 54.23-31. The story is repeated in several other chapters.

— Ibid., 7.80-84; 11.77-83; 26.54-58. The name of the town, Sadum (Sodom of the Bible) is not
mentioned in the Qur^an but is given by commentators. The story is repeated in several other
chapters.

— Ibid., 7.85.93. The story is found in several other chapters.

— Ibid., 10.148-53; 26.18-29; 28.40-42. The story is found in many other chapters.

— Ibid., 50.10-14. These places have not been identified with certainty.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 125.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MUHAMMAD AND THE MECCANS

The Prophet had kept his mission concealed for three years after he received the first revelations. The
Muslim brotherhood had functioned as a secret society. Ibn Ishaq gives a list of persons who had

joined. ^The advantage of the darkness for the first few years was great. The darkness saved it from being
crushed at the outset. Ridicule and contempt could be more easily endured when some hundred persons
were involved, than if the Prophet had been compelled to endure them by himself. It saved him, too, from
the character of the eccentric sage (such as Waraqa and others had borne), investing him from his first
public appearance with that of the leader of a party; it gave the Prophet time to secure over a reasonable

number of people that influence which he could exercise to a reasonable degree.

People in Mecca had, however, sensed that something was afoot. From the first, Muslims had been directed
by Allah to offer prayers in congregation. They could not do it inside the city so long as they were an

underground organisation. ^ When the apostle^s companions prayed,^ reports Ibn Ishaq, ^they went to

the glens so that people could not see them praying, and while Sa^d b. Abu Waqqas was with a number of

the prophet^s companions in one of the glens of Mecca, a band of polytheists came upon them while they
were praying and rudely interrupted them. They blamed them for what they were doing until they came to
blows, and it was on that occasion that Sa^d smote a polytheist with the jawbone of a camel and wounded
him. That was the first blood to be shed in Islam. No reprisals from the pagan side are reported.

Some more incidents of a similar king happened and the offenders went unpunished. The pagans were not
organised in an ideologically oriented group, secret or open, to be able to meet the challenge promptly and
effectively. As it happens in every pluralistic society faced with an aggressive and determined minority, the
Meccan majority showed only surprise and pain at what was happening. This state of helplessness
displayed by the majority helped the Muslims to acquire contempt for it; some faint-hearted pagans chose
to go over fast to what looked like the winning side. So the secret society felt sufficiently self-confident to

come out in the open. ^People began to accept Islam, both men and women, in large numbers until the
fame of it spread throughout Mecca, and it began to be talked about. Then God commanded His apostle to
declare the truth of what he had received and make known His commandments to men and call them to
Him. Three years elapsed from the time the apostle concealed his state until God commanded him to

publish his religion, according to information which has reached me. Then God said, ^Proclaim what you
have been ordered and turn aside from the polytheists. ^ ^

The ^religion^ proclaimed was very simple-the end of the world is near at hand; on the Last Day the
dead will be raised and judged; those who had believed in Allah as the only god and in Muhammad as the
last Prophet will enter paradise for an everlasting life of the rarest pleasures; those who ascribed partners to

Allah or denied Muhammad^>s prophethood or did both will be thrown into blazing hell-fire and subjected
to ever more terrible torments without end or relief. It was made quite clear at the very outset that belief in
Allah as the only God was not enough; it had to he accompanied by the belief that Muhammad was the

only mediator through whom Allah^s mercy could be sought or obtained.

There were, of course, some novel ways of worshipping Allah and leading a pious life. What startled the
Meccans, however, was the polemics which accompanied the publicity of Islam. ^>To avow Islam meant to
renounce publicly the national worship, to ridicule, and if possible to break down idols, and unabashedly to
use the new salutation and to celebrate the new-fangled rites. For it must be remembered that Islam was in
its nature polemical. Its Allah was not satisfied with worship, unless similar honour was paid to no other

name; and his worship also was intolerant of idols, and of all rites not instituted by himself^ Mohammed
and Abu Bakr were planning an attack on the national religion, that cult which every Meccan proudly
remembered had within their memory been defended by a miracle from the Abyssinian invaders and in
their myths had often thus triumphed before. The gods they worshipped were, Mohammed and Abu Bakr
asserted, no gods. For their worship these innovators would substitute that of the Jews whose power in
South Arabia had recently been overthrown, and of the Christians with whose defeat the national spirit of

Arabia had just awakened.^

The pagan response was slow in crystallizing. The first thing which the pagans did was to lead several
delegations to Abu Talib, Muhammad^s uncle and guardian. They told him that his nephew had ^cursed

our gods, insulted our religion, mocked our way of life and accused our forefathers of errorand
requested him to restrain the revolutionary. Abu Talib was conciliatory and tried to persuade Muhammad to
go slow. ^Do not put on me a burden greater than I can bear^, he said to his nephew. But the Prophet
^continued on his way, publishing God^s religion and calling men therein.^" His uncle was in no

position to stop him. ^Perhaps Abu Talib and his numerous family could not afford to abandon their
wealthy relative; and, indeed, had Mohammed not had some power over his uncle, it is unlikely that the
latter would have submitted to the inconvenience which his nephew^s mission brought on him.^

Meanwhile, Islam was having an impact on Meccan society which was even more painful for a people
wedded to the solidarity of family and clan. Every family from which a member or members had converted
to the new creed was under severe strain. Sons were not only becoming rude to their parents but also

pouring contempt on the elders^ way of life and worship. Brothers were becoming estranged. Marriages in
which one of the partners had converted, were breaking up fast. As al-Walid b. al-Mughira, a man of
standing in Mecca, observed, Muhammad looked like ^>a sorcerer who has brought a message by which he
separates a man from his father, or from his brother, or from his wife, or from his family.

^The view prevalent at Meccah concerning Mohammad appears to have been that he was mad-under the
influence of a Jinn, one of the beings who were supposed to speak through poets and sorcerers. That this
charge stung Mohammed to the quick may be inferred from the virulence with which he rejects it, and the

invective with which he attacks the ^bastard ^ who had uttered it. He charges the author of the outrage
with being unable to write and with being over head and ears in debt and threatens to brand him on his
^►proboscis.Allah thundered on his prophet^s behalf: ^ You are not a mad man it And you will see
and they will see, which of you is the demented. Therefore obey not you the rejecters, who would have you
compromise, that they may compromise: Neither obey you each feeble oath-monger, detractor, spreader
abroad of slanders, hinderer, of the good, an aggressor, malefactor, greedy therewithal, intrusive. We shall

brand him on the nose.^ 1 -

This loss of temper on Allah ^s part, however, served only to confirm the Meccans in their

suspicion. Another incident gave strength to it. One day some Meccans were assembled in the precincts of

the Ka^ba when Muhammad also happened to come by. The Meccans made some remarks within his

hearing. Muhammad hit back, ^By him who holds my life in His hand, I bring you slaughter.^ The
Meccans were stunned. They concluded that something had happened to Muhammad who had been known
earlier as a man of even temper. Muhammad had claimed that an angel came to him often with Allah ^ s
revelations. The Meccans became sure that he was being visited by some malevolent Spirit.

The Meccans sent ^MJtba b. Rabija, one of their chiefs, to Muhammad. Among other offers made by

^MJtba to Muhammad, one was that of providing medical relief. ^HJtba said, ^Hf this ghost which comes
to you, which you see, is such that you cannot get rid of him, we will find a physician for you, and exhaust
our means in getting you cured, for often a spirit gets possession of a man until he can be cured of

it. ^ = The Prophet remained calm, explained his mission to ^MJtba, and recited some Qur^an. ^HJtba
came back convinced that Muhammad was quite sane and advised the Meccans to leave him alone. ^If

(other) Arabs kill him, others will have rid you of him,^> he said. 1 The Meccans, however, did not agree
with him. They decided to launch an offensive against the Prophet. Their patience had come to an end.

The questions which the Meccans posed and the observations they made are scattered over many chapters
of Qur4>an. We have collected and sorted them out with reference to subject and logical sequence. ^The
objections recorded and ostensibly answered in the Koran appear to have been directed against every part
and feature of the new system; against Mohammed personally, against his notion of prophecy, against his

style, his statements, his doctrines. It is impossible to suggest any chronological scheme for them. ^

The manner in which the debate is recorded in the Qur^an is somewhat strange. The Meccans must have
said what they said, to Muhammad and his Muslims directly, or among themselves. But the answers come
invariably from Allah in the form of revelations. It appears as if Allah thought it hazardous to depend upon

the credibility or the capacity of his prophet to meet the challenge. ^The debate with which the earlier
years were filled was conducted in a variety of ways. Occasionally the Prophet himself condescended to
enter the arena, and confront his antagonists: he was indeed a powerful preacher and ^when he talked of

the Day of Judgment his cheeks blazed, and his voice rose, and his manner was fiery apparently,
however, he was not a ready debater, and was worsted when he tried the plan. Moreover, his temper in
debate was not easily controlled, and he was apt to give violent and insulting answers to questioners. He
therefore received divine instruction not to take part in open debate, to evade the question and if questioned

by the unbelievers, retire.^—

Cynics may say that the Prophet was using Allah as an alibi. Whatever be the truth, Allah^s intervention
helped in preserving some very significant pagan statements, as we shall see. The biographers of the
Prophet do indicate that a debate took place during his mission at Mecca. But their reports on the subject
are one-sided, apart from being sketchy.

The style in which the pagan questions are posed and Allah ^s answers stated in the Qur^an is
stereotyped. The points the Meccans made are preceded by the phrase, ^They say^, and Allah^s

rejoinders by the phrase, ^Say4>. Allah looks like a prompter guiding from the wings an actor on the
stage. Quite often, the debate is reported as having taken place between some earlier prophet and his
people. It is obvious, however, that the participants meant are Muhammad and his pagan contemporaries,

^More often then the controversy was conducted as it is^ in election times, when different speakers

address different meetings. The points are recorded and reported by members of the audience to the
antagonists; who then proceed if they deem it worth while, in some manner to reply.

To start with, the Meccans felt amused that a man like Muhammad, who was distinguished neither by birth
nor breeding, should strut around proclaiming himself a prophet. Muhammad^s followers also came from
classes and occupations which were not very respectable according to Meccan standards. Allah reports:

^ When they see you (O Muhammad) they treat you as a jest saying: Is he (the man) whom Allah has sent
as a messenger? He would have led us far away from our gods if we had not been staunch to them^ Has
he invented a lie concerning Allah or is there some madness in him? ^ Shall we forsake our gods for a mad
poet? ^Or one of the gods has possessed you in an evil way^ Shall we put faith in you when the lowest
(people) follow you? ^We see you but mortal (man) like us, and we see not that any save the most abject
among us follow you, without reflection. We behold in you no merit above us-nay, we deem you liars ^

We are surely better than this fellow who can hardly make (his meaning) clear^ We do not understand
much of what you say, and we see you weak among us We are more (than you) in wealth, and in
children^ Why are not angels sent down unto us, and why do we not see our Lord? ^Hf you cease not,
you will soon be the outcast,

Allah keeps mum about his Prophet^s birth and breeding. About the Prophet^>s followers he says that
their past is not relevant after they have come to the true faith. He assures the Meccans that Muhammad is
neither mad, nor a poet, nor possessed. He laments that the Meccans think too highly of themselves and are
proud and scornful. He assures Muhammad that the time is fast approaching when it will be found out who
is really mad, and that the disbelievers shall stand humbled.

Muhammad^s and his followers^ low birth and lack of breeding may sound a merit in our own times
when an inverted snobbery, which prizes them above everything else, has been made fashionable by
Marxism and allied ideologies; one has to hide one^s high birth and breeding these days in order to pass

muster. To the Meccans of the seventh century as to their contemporary societies, however, Muhammad ^>s
bio-data disqualified him, at least as a messenger from Allah. Biographers of the prophet would not have
taken the pains they took, and invented fables in order to invest Muhammad with a distinguished pedigree,
had not his background been seen by them as a distinct disadvantage to his claims and career. Margoliouth

has cited several early Muslim sources to conclude that Muhammad^s grandfather, ^ Abd al-MuTTalib,
was a manumitted slave who made his living by means which were not considered honourable in Mecca at
that time, namely, lending money and providing water and food to the pilgrims for a consideration.— In any

case, there is no escape from the evidence provided by the Qur^an that Muhammad himself felt deeply
hurt by the jibes hurled at him by the Meccans and sought consolation from Allah. It appears that he
himself shared the standards or prejudices of his age.

Another point which provided amusement to the Meccans was the Prophet^s incapacity to perform
miracles. He had himself invited the trouble by producing revelations in which the preceding prophets,
particularly Moses and Jesus, had exhibited supernatural powers. Allah reports: ^They say: This is only a
mortal like you who would make himself superior to you^> He is only a man in whom there is a madness.
So watch him for a whiled This is only a mortal like you who eats whereof you eat, and drinks of what
you drink ^ If you were to obey a mortal like yourselves, you surely will be losers^ What ails the

messenger of Allah that he eats and walks in the markets? ^>You are but mortals like us who would fain
turn us away from what our fathers used to worship^ shall mere mortals guide us? ^ You are but a mortal
man like us. RaHman has naught revealed to you but a lie^> Is this other than a mortal man? Will you then
succumb to magic when you see it? ^So bring some token if you are of the truthful^ If only some portent
were sent down upon him from his Lord ^ If only he would bring us a miracle from the Lord^ Why are
no portents sent down upon him? ^ Why then have armlets of gold not been set upon him, or angles sent

along with him? ^We shall not put faith in you till you cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us,
or you have a garden of date-palms and grapes and cause rivers to gush forth therein abundantly, or you
cause the heavens to fall peacemeal as you have pretended, or bring Allah and the angels as warrant, or you
have a house of gold, or you ascend into heaven, and even then we will put no faith in your ascension till

you bring down a book that we can read Or why is not treasure thrown down unto him or why has he not
a paradise from whence to eat? ^You are following but a man bewitched^

Allah assures the Meccans: ^Your comrade errs not, nor is deceived^ Surely he beheld him (the angel)
on the horizon. Nor is he avid of the unseen He commands the Prophet: ^Say: You are a Warner

only^ Say: I am naught save a mortal messenger^ Portents are with Allah and I am a Warner
only^ Allah is able to send down a portent. But most of them known not^^ He reminds Muhammed

that the Meccans are not likely to believe even if a miracle is shown to them. ^The hour drew nigh and the
moon was rent in twain. And if they behold a portent, they turn away and say: Prolonged
illusion.^ According to some commentators on the Qur^an, this revelation refers to an actual miracle
performed by the Prophet. One night the moon had split into two and Mount Hara was seen standing
between the two parts. But the Meccans dismissed it as an illusion. Other commentators, however, say that
this refers to a future event when the Last Day will be near at hand.

The Meccan stood firm by their gods; their faith in the gods was not at all shaken by Muhammad^>s
attacks. Allah reports: ^When it was said unto them. There is no God save Allah, they were scornful, and

said: Shall we forsake our gods for a mad poet?^ And they marvel that a Warner from among themselves
has come. They say: This is a wizard, a charlatan. Makes he the gods One God? This is an astounding
thing^ The chiefs among them go about exhorting: Go and be staunch by your gods. This is a thing
designed (against) you. We have not heard this earlier in our religion. This is naught but an invention. Has
a Reminder been revealed unto him alone among us?^ Why not Allah speak to us, or some sign come to

us?^> Had Allah willed we would not have ascribed (unto him) partners, neither our forefathers^ Had
Allah willed we would not have worshipped aught beside Him, we and our forefathers, nor forbidden aught
commanded from Him^ We worship them only that they may bring us near unto Allah^ He has invented
a lie about Allah^^ -

Some of their observations were addressed to Muhammad, though reported by Allah: ^Enough for us is
that wherein we found our forefathers. Have you come to us that we serve Allah alone and foresake what
our fathers worshipped? Do you ask us not to worship what our forefathers worshipped? We are in grave

doubt concerning that to which you call us^> Does your way of prayer command you that we should
forsake that which our forefathers worshipped ?^> We found our forefathers following a religion, and we

are guided by their footprints. In what you bring we are disbelievers^ O Wizard! Entreat your Lord by the
pact he has made with you, so that we may walk aright

The Meccans were in no mood to accept the name which Muhammad wanted to foist on Allah: ^ When
they see you, they but choose you out of mockery: Is this (the man) who makes mockery of our gods? And
they would deny all mention of the RaHman^ And when they are asked to adore RaHman, they say: What
is RaHman? Are we to adore whatever you bid us? And it increases aversion in them^ And when the son
of Mary is quoted as an example, behold! the folk laugh out, and say: Are our gods better, or is he?^> They
call our revelations false with strong denial^ And when the Qur^an is recited unto them, they do not
prostrate themselves.^—

But, as Muhammad persisted in reviling their gods, the Meccans decided to hit back. They met him and
said: ^Muhammad, you will either stop cursing our gods, or we will curse your Allah.They had
understood finally that the Allah whose will Muhammad was revealing was not the Allah they worshipped.
Allah of the Qur^an felt concerned at this new turn and revealed, ^ Had Allah willed, they would not
have been idolatrous. We have not set you as a keeper over them, nor are you responsible for them. Revile
not those unto whom they pray beside Allah lest they wrongfully revile Allah through ignorance.^ - Ibn
Ishaq observes: have been told that the apostle refrained from cursing their gods, and began to call them

to Allah. ^

The Meccans, however, were not at all impressed by the revelations produced by the Prophet; they did not
accept his claim that he received them from some higher source. They thought that he was inventing them

himself. Allah reports: ^They say: This is naught else than the speech of a mortal man^ This is naught

else than an invented lie^ Nay, say they, (these are but) muddled dreams, he has but invented it; nay, he is

but a poet^> And when our revelations are recited unto them, they say: We have heard. If we wish we can

speak the like of this. This is naught but fables of the men of old^^ !

Muhammad threw a challenge to the Meccans. Allah prompted him: ^>Say: Then bring a surah like unto it,
and call (for help) all you can besides Allah if you are truthful.^ The challenge was accepted by al-NaDr
b. Harith, a Meccan chief, who said: ❖I can tell a better story than he^ In what respect is Muhammad a
better story-teller?^— He told several stories in verses which were like verses of the Qur^an. Muhammad

felt outraged and never forgave al-NaDr. ^The effect of the criticism must have been very damaging; for
when the Prophet at the battle of Badr got the man into his power, he executed him at once while he
allowed the others to be ransomed.^ - Ibn Ishaq confirms that when the apostle was at al-Safra^ on his
way back from Badr. ^al-NaDr was killed by ^Ali^^ - But while the Prophet was still in Mecca, Allah

thought it wise to pacify the pagans. He revealed: ^Ht is not a poet^s speech^ nor diviner^s speech.

And if he had invented false sayings, we assuredly had taken him by the right hand, and severed his life-
artery, and not one of you could have held us off from him. ^

The more knowledgeable among the Meccans suspected that Muhammad was only repeating what he had
learnt from the People of the Book, Jews and Christians. Allah reports: ^They say: And we know well that

only a man teaches h i m ^ This is naught but a lie that he has invented and other folk have helped him so
that they produced a slander and a lie^ Fables of men of old which he has written down so that they are
dictated to him morn and evening^ One taught (by others), a mad man

There were several stories current in Mecca regarding the particular person or persons who coached
Muhammad in biblical lore which, they said, was all that came out in the Qur^an. ^H)ne account says it
was Jabar, a Greek servant to Amer Ebn al Hadrami, who could read and write well; another, that they were
Jabar and Yesar, two slaves who followed the trade of sword cutlers at Mecca, and used to read the
pentateuch and gospel and had often Mohammed as their auditor, when he passed that way. Another tells us

it was Aish, or Yasih, a domestic of al Haweiteb Ebn Abd al ^H 'zza, who was a man of some learning, and
had embraced Mohammedanism. Another supposes it was Kais, a Christian, whose house Muhammad
frequented; another, that it was Addas, a servant of Otba Ebn Rabia^^—

Having seen the People of the Book from close quarters, the Meccans found it difficult to believe that
divine knowledge had been sent to the Jews and the Christians long ago, and that they themselves were

deprived of it till the advent of Muhammad. Allah proceeds: ^They say: The Scripture was revealed only

to two sets of people before us, and we in sooth were not aware of what they read ^ If the Scripture had

been revealed unto us, we surely would have been better guided than are they ^ Two magics which support

each other^ In both we are disbelievers^ If it had been any good they would not have been before us in

attaining it^ This is an ancient lie.^ 1

It had also been noticed that Muhammad produced revelations according to his convenience in the debate.
Allah complained: ^ And when we put a revelation in place of (another), they say: You are but inventing^
Why is not the Qur^an revealed unto him all at one.^ Allah had himself revealed that the Qur^>an was

being read out from a ^ we 11 guarded tablet^ preserved in the highest heaven. Why was it then being
doled out in bits and pieces? The Meccans suspected that the Prophet was inventing verses as occasion
demanded.

The incident which confirmed their suspicion was that of the so-called Satanic Verses. Tabari has recorded:
^ When the apostle saw that his people turned their backs on him and he was pained by their estrangement
from what he brought them from God he longed that there should come to him from God a message that
would reconcile his people to him^ Then God sent down, ^Have ye thought of Al-Lat and al-^HJzza and

Manat the third, the other, these are the exalted Gharaniq whose intercession is approved. ^ The
Meccans felt happy and thought that the strife was over, now that Muhammad had endorsed their
Goddesses. But Muhammad had to face his own followers who felt betrayed. The verses were withdrawn

soon after and replaced by another revelation. ^>So God annulled what Satan had suggested and God
established His verses.^ !

So the Meccans turned down the Qur^an totally and finally. Allah reports: ^Their chieftains said: We
surely see you in foolishness and we deem you of the liars ^ It is all one to us whether you preach or are
not of those who preach^ Our hearts are protected from that unto which you (Muhammad) call us, and in

our ears there is deafness, and between us and you there is a veil^ They say (to their people): Heed not
this Qur^an, and drown the hearing of it. ^

Having reaffirmed their Gods and rejected Muhammad ^>s prophethood as well as revelations, the Meccans
made fun of the Last Day ( Yaumu Akhir) which is described by Allah variously as Day of Resurrection
(Yaumu Qiyamah), Day of Separation ( Yaumu &l FaSI ), Day of Reckoning (Yaumu Hiscib ), Day of

Awakening (Yaumu &l Ba &l). Day of Judgment (Yaumu Din), Day of Encompassing (Yaumu

MuHit) or simply as The Hour (As-Sa^ah). ^>For Muhammad, a revivalist preacher seeking to strike
terror in his hearers, the doctrines of resurrection and of the judgment were of the first importance, and the
Qur^an, in consequence, is full of references to them. on this day, the dead are to be raised, judged,
and sent to eternal heaven if they were believers, and to an eternal hell if they were unbelievers. The pagan
Arabs, on the other hand, believed in survival of the human personality after death. In the absence of
positive evidence it is difficult to give details of their doctrine. But if we go by what the Sabaeans believed,

they stood for transmigration of souls.— So ^the notion of the reconstruction of the decayed body seemed
to them in the highest degree absurd, and Mohammed ^>s promise of heavenly spouses occasioned
mirth.

Allah reports: ^They say: Shall we show you a man who will tell you (that) when you have become
dispersed in death, with the most complete dispersal, still even then, you will be created anew. Has he
invented a lie concerning Allah or is there in him a madness?^ This is a strange thing: When we are dead
and have become dust like our forefathers, shall we verily be brought back? We were promised this
forsooth, we and our forefathers. This is naught but fables of the men of old. Bring back our fathers if you

speak the truths When we are lost in the earth, how can we then be recreated?^ Shall we really be
restored to our first state: Even after we are crumbled bones? Then that will be a vain proceeding^ There
is naught but our life of this world; we die and we live, and naught destroys us save Tinted We deem it but
a conjecture, and are by no means convinced^ And they swear by Allah their most binding oaths (that)
Allah will not raise him who dies^^ —

Allah^s rejoinder is also recorded in the Qur^an: ^ We know what the earth takes, and with us is a
recording Book^ Thinks man we shall not assemble his bones. We are able to restore his very finger^

Surely it will need but one Shout, and they will be awakened^ Those of old and those of later times, will
all be brought together to the tryst of an appointed day. Then you the deniers, you will eat of a tree called
Zaqqum, and will fill your bellies therewith and thereon you will drink of boiling water, drinking as the

camel drinks. This will be their welcome on the Day of Judgment^ ^

The Meccans, however, were not cowed down by these threats. They challenged Muhammad to hurry up
and bring down the doom upon them. Allah reports: ^They say: You have disputed with us and multiplied
disputation with us. Now bring down upon us that wherewith you threaten us, if you are truthful^ O
Allah! if this be indeed the truth from you, rain down stones on us or bring us some painful doom^ Our
Lord! Hasten us for our fate before the Day of Reckoning^ They ask you of the Hour: When will it come
to port?^ When will the promise be fulfilled, if you are truthful? When is the Day of Judgment?^ They

say: The hour will never come to us^> ❖ - The Meccans threw this challenge again and again if the
Qur^an is to be believed.

Muhammad had to wriggle out of the situation. Allah reports: ❖ Say: Knowledge thereof is with my Lord.
He alone will manifest it at the proper time^ It comes not to you save unawares ❖ But Allah will not
punish them while you (Muhammad) are with them^> For every nation there is an appointed tinted It is
(only) then when it has befallen that you will believed And it is in the Scriptures of the men of old. Is it
not a portent for them that the doctors of the Children of Israel know it? ❖ You are but a Warner sent unto
them^> So withdraw from them and await (the event) ❖❖

❖Thus then the years of the debate rolled on; in which parties increased in vehemence and antagonism,
and in which the successful polemics of the Meccans on the new religion were met by ridicule and
refutation of the religious notions current among the pagans. As has been said, the Meccan side is known
only from the statements of the adversary, whose acquaintance with the Meccan religion may not have been

very deep^^—

The poet Abu Qays b. al-Aslat whose pseudonym was SayfT summed up the pagan position as follows:

Lord of mankind, serious things have happened.

The difficult and the simple are involved.

Lord of mankind, if we have erred
Guide us to the good path.

Were it not for our Lord we should be Jews
And the religion of Jews is not convenient.

Were it not for our Lord we should be, Christians
Along with the monks on Mount Jalil.

But when we were created we were created
Hanifs; our religion is from all generations.—

It may be noted that the Lord of the pagans is the Lord of mankind, and not the Lord of Muslims alone.

Muhammad^s mission at Mecca had failed. Commenting on the last phase of the Meccan Suras, F. Buhl

says: ❖it is the weakest part of the Qur^an, in which Muhammad^s imagination became exhausted, and
he was content with tiresome repetitions of his earlier ideas and especially with the tales of the
prophets. The form becomes discursive, and more prosaic ❖ The passages belonging to it show clearly that
Muhammad would have become intellectually bankrupt if the migration to Medina had not aroused him to
a new effort ❖ ❖—

This is not the place to go into what the Prophet did after migration to Medina; the story has been
documented in detail by the biographers of the Prophet-surprise raids on trade caravans and tribal
settlements; the use of plunder thus obtained for recruiting an ever-growing army of desperados;
assassinations of opponents ordered, and blessed when successful; expropriation, expulsion and massacre
of Jews who had lived for long in Medina; attack on and enslavement of Jews settled in Khybar; sale of
women and children, captured in raids, for buying horses and arms; conquest of Mecca and the rest of
Arabia by show as well as use of overwhelming force; and winning over to his fold, by means of bribes, the
tricksters and the treacherous in every Arab tribe. He organised no less than eighty-six expeditions, twenty-
six of which he led himself. He was getting ready to invade neighbouring lands when he died all of a

sudden. What interests us in the present context are the revelations he produced vis-a-vis those who
worship Gods other than his Allah.

Believers were prohibited from contracting marriage relations with the idolaters;— they were forbidden to
pray for the idolaters, even if the latter were their parents or kinsmen of the first degree.— Immediately after

the conquest of Mecca, the Ka^ba which had been a pagan temple for ages past was placed out of bounds
for the pagans; it was converted into a place of Muslim worship as we shall see. Allah revised the history of
Arabia in order to justify the usurpation. He revealed, ^>Say: Allah speaks truths The first sanctuary

appointed for mankind was that at Becca^ And (remember) when we prepared for Abraham the place of
the (holy) House saying. Ascribe you nothing as partners unto Me, and purify my house for those who
make the round (thereof) and those who stand and those who bow and make prostrations^ It is not for the
idolaters to tend Allah^s sanctuaries, bearing witness against themselves of disbelief^ The idolaters only
are unclean. So let them not near the Place of Inviolable worship after this year^>^

A permanent jihad (holy war) was pronounced on the idolaters: ^ Those who believe do battle for the

cause of Allah; and those who disbelieve do battle for the cause of idols. So fight the minions of the devi I
Slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them (captive) and besiege them, and prepare for them
each ambush

Going back to the debate at Mecca, it is obvious that in those days Allah was keeping a diary of all that
happened in the pagan metropolis between the Muslims on the one hand and the pagans on the other. It is
difficult to believe that he recorded only that which the pagans said and ignored altogether that which they
did to the Muslims. If this inference is correct, certain conclusions follow.

The bulk of the Qur^an covers the Meccan period in the life of the Prophet. We do not find in any of the
chapters even the hint of any physical method used by the Meccans towards Muhammad or his Muslims.
The only violence we come across is in the language of Allah who frets and fumes and threatens the
Meccans with dire consequences, all too frequently and for no other reason than that the Meccans refuse to
accept what is written in the scriptures of the Jews and the Christians, and stick to their own ancient
religion. What credence, then, can be placed in the stories, sold by the biographers of Muhammad, that
while the Prophet argued his case with patience and in a reasoned manner, his opponents did not know how
to meet the challenge and resorted to physical methods? We find no evidence for these stories in the only

contemporary source available to us, namely, the Qur^an.

On the contrary, the biographers provide several broad hints of violence threatened or committed by the
zealots of Islam in the streets of Mecca. For instance, when ^HJmar became a Muslim, he went to the

Ka^ba and proclaimed to his fellow citizens, ^There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle
of Allah! Whoever of you moves, I shall cut off his head with my bright scimitar, and shall send him to the
Mansion of destruction.^— Margoliouth observes: ^>The persons whose accession to Islam was most
welcomed were men of physical strength, and much actual fighting must have taken place at Meccah before
the Flight; else the readiness with which the Moslems after the Flight could produce from their number

tried champions would be inexplicable. A tried champion must have been tried somewhere- We do
not expect Allah to find place for these Muslim doings in his diary. We also know his defence for slurring
over the misdeeds of his minions. It is the same as that of every Marxist historian-Comrade! I am a

partisan. I have no use for bloody bourgois objectivity.^ All that we are saying is that we cannot help
suspecting the stories which say that the Muslims were on the receiving end. They look very much like the
products of Islamic martyrology.

Martyrs have been the stock-in-trade of prophetic creeds down the ages. Long before the prophet of Islam
was born, the annalists of Judaism and Christianity had perfected the art of making the agressor look like
the victim of aggression, and vice versa. The Bible was the master-piece produced by this art. The
biographers of the Prophet had only to borrow the art and practise it in the new context. The art continued
to flourish in Christian and Muslim countries till the eighteenth century when it was rejected in the modern
West and a new discipline of history-writing emerged. It was, however, revived in Soviet Russia under
Stalin and had a fresh lease of life. Now Russia has also rejected it with repugnance. The only land in
which it is being practised at present and on some scale is India. The Stalinist historians who were placed in

positions of power in the regime of Jawaharlal Nehru and his Minister of ^Education Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad, have been practising this art with considerable self-confidence. They are of course nowhere
near the masters of yester years. It is seldom that apes acquire the looks of those they imitate. But they do
create confusion till they are identified and exposed.

Another conclusion follows from Allah^s silence over any mundane motives on the part of the Meccans
when they stand up for their Gods. Allah accused them of ignorance, obstinacy, temptations from Satan and
the rest, but never of greed for the rich revenues brought in by pilgrims to the Ka^ba. It needs an
investigation as to when and by whom this base motive was attributed to the Meccans for explaining their
devotion to their religion. Allah for sure had no part in spreading the canard. Whatever its origin, this much
is certain that it must have acquired respectability with the spread of Marxism. By now it has become the
most fashionable way of explaining the quarrel between Muhammad and his kinsmen. Marxists as well
non-Marxists mouth it with equal conviction. Nearer home, the same mind has spread a similar canard

about the Brahmins. We are told that the Brahmins proclaim and practise their ^puerile priestcraft^ not
because they believe in any part of it but because it brings them mundane privileges and material profits.
Those who have studied the history of Brahmins and are familiar with the depths of their spiritual
traditions, and therefore dismiss the lies spread about them by Christian missionaries and Marxist mullahs,
can very well judge the worth of the canard spread about the Meccans.

The motives of the converts to Islam were, however, not in doubt from the very first. ^H)f any moralising

or demoralising effect which Mohammed ^>s teaching had upon his followers, we cannot speak with
precision. When he was at the head of the robber community it is probable that the demoralising influence
began to be felt; it was then that men who had never broken an oath learnt that they might evade their
obligations, and that men to whom the blood of their clansmen had been as their own began to shed it with
impunity in the cause of God; and that lying and treachery in the cause of Islam received divine approval,
hesitation to perjure oneself in that cause being reprehended as a weakness. It was then, too, that Moslems
became distinguished by the obscenity of their language. It was then, too, that the coveting of goods and

wives (possessed by Unbelievers) was avowed without discouragement from the Prophet^ On the other
hand, there is no evidence that the Moslems were either in personal or altruistic morality better than the
pagans

The war which Allah of the Qur^an had declared on pagan Gods was aimed at ensuring a moral holiday
for his followers. The ancient religion of Arabia which centred round those Gods had established certain
moral standards and social conventions which kept the beast in man under restraint. The destruction of
temples where the Gods were worshipped gave a clear signal that the beast had been unleashed.

Footnotes:

- Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., pp. 116-17.

2 D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 112.

- Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 118.

- Ibid., p. 117. Allah ^>s command can be read in Qur^an, 15.8-9, 94.

2 D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 118-19.

- Ibn Ishaq, op. cit, p. 119.

I D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 123. It may be mentioned that Muhammad was married to a rich
woman, Khadijah, and controlled her considerable wealth which he used for supporting his

nucleus family as well as in the service of the mission to which his wife also subscribed.

- Ibn Ishaq, op. cit, p. 121.

- D.S. Margoliouth, p. cit., p. 121.

-Qur^an, 68.2,5-6, 8-13.

- Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 131.

- Ibid., p. 132.

II Ibid., p. 133.

- D.S. Margoliouth, op., cit., p. 130.

- Ibid., p. 127. Allahs^ instruction to the Prophet can be read in Qur^an 6.67.

- Ibid., pp. 127-28.

- ❖Qur^an 25.41-42. 34.8; 37.36; 11.54; 26.111; 11.27; 43.52; 11.91; 34.35; 25.21; 26.167.

- D. S. Margoliouth, op. cit., pp. 41-49.

- Qur^an. 23.24,25,33,34; 2S.6; 14.10; 64.60; 36.15; 21.3; 26.154; 13.7; 20.133; 29.50-, 43.53;
17.90-93; 25.8. The Meccans (36.15) have a fling at RaHman, the name which the Prophet gave to
Allah quite frequently. They hated this name.

-Ibid., 53.2; 81.23-24; 29.50; 13.7; 54.1-2.

- Ibid., 37.35-36; 38.4-8; 2.183; 6.149; 39.3; 42.24.

-Ibid., 5.104; 7.70; 11.62; 11.87; 43.22,24,49.

23 Ibid., 21.36; 25.60; 43.57-58; 78.28; 84.21.

-Ibid., 6.108-109.

— Ibn Ishaq, op, cit., p. 162.

-Qur^an,74.25; 34.43 (also 11.13,35;32.3;34.43;46.8; 52.33); 21.5; 8.31.,

-Ibid., 10.38.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 136. See also p. 163.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 135.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 308.

— Qur^an, 69, 41-42. 44-47.

Ibid., 16.103; 25.4-5; 44.14. The Meccan allegation goes to show that Muhammad was not an
illiterate as is asserted even in the Qur^an (29.46,49).

— George Sale, The Koran or Alcoran of Mohammed, London (n.d). p. 233, footnote 1.

M Qur^an, 6.157-58; 28.48; 46.11.

25 Ibid., 16.101; 25.32;

— Insert in Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 165-66. Allah^s replacement of the ^Satanic Verses^ can be
read in Qur^an. 53.19-17.

22 Qur^an, 7.66; 26.136; 41.5. 46.26.

-Ibid., 2.79; 77.14; 40.28; 30.56; 1.3; 11.85.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 1018.

— Encyclopaedia Americana, New York, 19252, Vol. XXIV, p. 77.

— D. S. Margoliouth, op, cit. p. 138.

— Qur^an, 34.7-8; 50.2-3; 27.67-68; 44.36; 45.32; 32.10; 79.10-12, 45 24, 32; 16.38. The
reference to the earlier promise points to the Jews who had been proclaiming for a long time that
the forefathers of the Arabs will be raised again and judged.

-Ibid., 50.4; 75.3-4; 79.13-14; 56.49-57.

-Ibid., 11.22; 8.32; 48.16; 7.187; 10.48; 32.28; 51.13; 34.3.

— Ibid., 7.187.8.33:10.49,51; 26.96-87; 79.45.

— D. S. Margoliouth. op. cit., p. 141.

Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 201.

47

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit.. Volume IV, p. 1075.

-Qur^an. 2.221.

52 Ibid., 9.113-14.

— Ibid., 3.95-96; 22.26; 9.17,28. ^Mecca^ was also pronounced as ^Becca^ in olden times.
52 Ibid., 4.76, 9.5.

— The Rauzat-us-Safa, or Garden of Purity by Muhammad bin Khavendshah bin Mahmud
translated into English by E. Rehatsek, first published 1893, Delhi Reprint 1982, Vol. I, pt. II, p.
183.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 161.

— D. S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 149.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE PROPHET DESTROYS PAGAN TEMPLES

Judaism and Christianity had equipped the Prophet of Islam with an exclusive god and a sectarian scripture
which declared war on pagan Gods and their places of worship. The Jews and Christians in Arabia,
descended from immigrants or native converts, also provided practical demonstration of how to proceed
vis-a-vis pagan temples, whenever and wherever these two sects acquired political power, howsoever
shortlived.

We do not know what the Christianized Arabs on the borders of the Byzantine Empire did to pagan places
of worship; the sources are silent on the subject. It is a safe bet that they must have followed in the
footsteps of their mentors in the Empire. Some information, however, is available on what happened in

Yemen, the southern province of Arabia. Some years before the birth of Muhammad, Tubba^C the
Himayrite king of Yemen, had converted to Judaism under the influence of two rabbis from Yathrib
(Medina). He used state-power for converting his people to the new creed. ^>Now Ri^am,^> reports Ibn
Ishaq, ^was one of the temples which they venerated and where they offered sacrifices and received

oracles when they were polytheists. The two rabbis told Tubba^ that it was merely a shayTan which
deceived them in this way and they asked to be allowed to deal with it. When the king agreed they
commanded a black dog to come out of it and killed it-at least this is what the Yamanites say. Then they
destroyed the temple and I am told that its ruins to this day show traces of the blood that was poured over

it. ^ The blood must have been that of the pagans who courted death in defence of the temple.

Around the same lime, some nobles of Najran, another principality in Yemen, were converted to
Christianity by a missionary named Faymiyun. ^ At this time,^ reports Ibn Ishaq, ^the people of Najran
followed the religion of the Arabs worshipping a great palm-tree. Every year they had a festival when they
hung on the tree any fine garment they could find and women^s jewels. Then they sallied out and devoted

the day to it.^> Faymiyun reported to the nobles that the palm-tree ❖could neither help nor hurt^ and that
❖if he were to curse the tree in the name of God, He would destroy it, for He was God Alone without
companion. ❖ The nobles agreed. Faymiyun ❖invoked God against the tree and God sent a wind against it
which tore it from its roots and cast it on the ground. ❖ The miracle helped the people of Najran to adopt

the ❖law of Isa b. Maryam ❖ in which Faymiyun ❖instructed them.^ In plain language the story says
that political power was used for forcing the people into the Christian fold and destroying their places of
worship. Churches rose on the sites of sacred groves and pagan temples.

The Judaic regime in the neighbourhood of Najran, however, was militarily more powerful. As already
related, the Himayrite king Dhu Nuwas marched on Najran, slaughtered thousands of Christians, and forced
the rest into the fold of Judaism. It is not recorded what this hero of Judaism did to the Christian churches
which had come up. But one can be sure that they were demolished or converted into synagogues.

In turn, the victory of Judaism was short-lived. The Christian king of Abyssinia sent an army which
overthrew the Judaic regime in Yemen and imposed Christianity on the whole province. Abraha, the
Abyssinian governor, demolished the synagogues and erected churches on their sites. He built a grand

cathedral at San^a^, the seat of his government, and informed his king that ❖! have erected a house and

built a church so as to put an end to the circumambulation of the Kabbah by pilgrims and visitors. ❖- He
was looking forward to destroying the pagan temple in Mecca.

The excuse for Christian egression was provided by an Arab from Mecca who ❖went forth until he came

to the cathedral and defiled it^ during the night. Abraha made enquiries. He ❖learned that the outrage had
been committed by an Arab who came from the temple in Mecca where the Arabs went on pilgrimage, and
that he had done this in anger at his threat to divert the Arabs ❖ pilgrimage to the cathedral, showing
thereby that it was unworthy of reverence. ❖ He felt ❖enraged and swore that he would go to the temple

and destroy it. ❖- A Christian army equipped with elephants marched on Mecca and encamped in the
outskirts of the city which the Arabs were in no position to defend against a formidable foe. But an
epidemic or some other disaster forced the invaders to beat a retreat.

The Arabs in Yemen had meanwhile invited help from Persia. ❖The films of Judaism and Christianity, ❖

writes Margoliouth, ❖torn off the face of South Arabia, paganism it seems was restored: not indeed at
Najran, where Christianity, remained, as in an island; but the rulers were pagans, and in league with the
worst enemy of the Cross. Meanwhile the matters about which the sects were at variance were evoking

interest in minds that had been alien from them.^

Muhammad was born in the year in which the Christian invasion of Mecca took place. The pagan Arabs
celebrated for long what they regarded as a victory of their Gods over the Christian godling. Years later,

after he had floated the myth of Abraham as the latest builder of the Ka^ba, Muhammad will pronounce
that the defeat of the Christian army was brought about by the God of Abraham. But that was a big bluff
prompted by the Jewish refusal to accept him as a prophet. ❖The connection of the Abraham-myth with
the Kabbah, ❖ observes Margoliouth, ❖appears to have been the result of later speculation, and to have

been fully developed only when a political need for it arose. ❖- It was a case of ideological usurpation of
the place before physical misappropriation occured.

It is difficult to say at what stage of his life Muhammad became a convinced monotheist. The evidence
available suggests that his evolution towards this creed was a slow process. Dealing with the years after his
marriage to Khadijah and before he became a prophet, Margoliouth cites old Islamic sources and concludes

that Muhammad was a polytheist for quite some time. ❖The names of some of the children show that their
parents when they named them were idolaters. Nor is there anything to indicate that Mohammed was at this
time of a monothestic or religious turn of mind. He with Khadijah performed some domestic rite in honour

of one of the goddesses each night before retiring. At the wedding of his cousin, Abu Lahab^s daughter,
he is represented as clamouring for sport ❖ He confessed to having at one time sacrified a grey sheep to Al-

❖ Uzza-and probably did so more than once^ A story which may be true shows us Mohammed with his
stepson inviting the Meccan monotheist Zaid, son of ^Amr, to eat with them-of meat offered to idols: the
old man refused ❖ ❖

Islamic hagiography, however, tells us that the Prophet was an uncompromising monotheist and a
determined iconoclast from the moment he was conceived in the womb of his mother. ❖it is related that
on the morning of conception the idols in all the inhabited quarters of the earth were
overturned^ ❖ Mightier events took place on the night of his birth. A lake dried up, a river overflowed
and the palace of the Persian monarch ❖so trembled that fourteen of its pinnacles fell to the ground. ❖
More significantly ❖news arrived from Estakhan that the fire of the chief temple of Persia, which had
burned for a thousand years, had become extinguished. ❖- Nearer home, the Pagans in Mecca witnessed a

scene which left them distressed. ❖Another event of the night of the nativity took place when the Qoraish
were holding a festival in honour of one of their idols, in whose temple they had at that time assembled,
and were engaged in eating and drinking. They found, however, that their god had fallen to the ground, and
set him up again; but as he was, a short time afterwards, again found prostrate on his face, the idolaters
were much dismayed and erected him again. When they had done so the third time, a voice was heard from
the cavity of the idol saying:

All the regions of the earth, in the east and west.

Respond to the nativity, whom its light strikes;

And idolatry decreases, and the hearts of all

The kings of the earth tremble with fear. ❖ -

As a baby, Muhammad was suckled by a desert woman, Halima. One day she came to Mecca to see the

❖ Ukaz fair, carrying Muhammad with her. An astrologer saw the baby and shouted, ❖Come here, O
people of Hudayl, come here, O Arabs. ❖ People gathered round him, Halima among them. He pointed

towards the baby and said, ❖He will slaughter people of your religion and smash your idols. ❖ Halima
took fright and ran away with the baby.—

Muhammad was more than three years old when Halima took him to Mecca with the intention of returning
him to his family. But the child got lost when they arrived in the city. Halima was searching frantically for

him when she met an old man who heard her story and wanted to help. ❖The foolish man,^ says the

biographer, ❖went to Hobal, and after praising him as is the fashion of idolaters, he continued: ❖This

woman of the Bani Sa^ad says that she lost Muhammad the son of A^bd-ul-Muttalih; restore him to her

if it so pleaseth thee^^ As soon as that misguided individual had pronounced these words Hobal fell

prostrate on his face, and from the cavity of his statute the words were heard: ❖What have I to do with

Muhammad who will be the cause of our destruction?^ Tell the idolaters that he is the great sacrifice; that
is to say, he will kill all, except those who will be so fortunate as to follow him.^^

Muhammad was a young boy when he was invited by his uncles and aunts to join a celebration in honour
of Buana, a God to whom the Quraysh were much devoted. He was reluctant but yielded under pressure
from the family. But when he came back, he was terribly frightened and looked depressed. His aunts asked

what had happened to him. He said, ^Whenever I went near an idol, I saw a man, white and tall, calling

out to me, Muhammad! get back, do not touch it.^^— He never joined a pagan celebration again.

Some time later, his people were sacrificing to Buana. A voice came out of the idol ^s belly, ^ A strange
thing has happened. We are being burnt in fire. Abeyance of wahy (revelation) has come to an end. A
prophet has taken birth in Mecca. His name is Ahmad. He will migrate to Yathrib.^

His uncle, Abu Talib, had taken Muhammad with a caravan going to Syria. The caravan halted near a
monastery at Bostra where Bahira, a Christian monk, felt drawn towards Muhamad and made enquiries

about him from the other Arabs. ^ When the people had finished eating,reports Ibn Ishaq, ^>and gone

away Bahira got up and said to him, ^>Boy, I ask you by al-Lat and al-^MJzza to answer my

questions.^ Now Bahira said this only because he had heard his people swearing by these gods. They

allege that the apostle of God said to him, ^Do not ask me by al-Lat and al-^HJzza, for by Allah nothing

is more hateful for me than these two gods 1

A similar event is reported to have happened in his youth when he was employed by Khadijah and travelled
to Egypt with her merchandise. The caravan came across another Christian monk named NasTTur who also

fell for Mohammad. ^NasTTur^ descended from the roof of his hermitage, and said to the apostle of

Allah: adjure thee by Lat and U^zza to tell me what thy name is.^ His holy and prophetic lordship

replied: ^TMay thy mother be childless! Begone from me; for the Arabs have not uttered any words more

disagreeable to me than thine. 1 At a latter stage in the same journey Muhammad had a dispute with a

Jew on account of some business transaction. The Jew said; adjure you by Lat and U^zza.^

Muhammad replied: ^Whenever I pass by Lat and U^zza, I turn away my face from them. ^ —

Now, it is well-known that hagiography everywhere projects future events into the past. We have quoted
from the hagiography of the Prophet not to decry it but to make the point that Islamic lore has always
looked at Muhammad as a born iconoclast. This was not necessary because only his practices as a prophet
provide the pious precedents. But hagiography hates to leave any loopholes, even if it has to invent events.

Hagiography yields place to history as we move into the period of Muhammad ^>s prophethood. While
initiating All b. Abu Talib into Islam, Muhammad said: ^>1 call you to God, the One without associate,
to worship him and to disavow al-Lat and al-^MJzza.^ ^ All was surprised as he had never heard such a
thing before, and offered to consult his father, Abu Talib. But Muhammad told him, ^Hf you do not accept
Islam, then conceal the matter.^ Next morning, ^All came and requested Muhammad to initiate him. He
had made up his mind after a night^s reflection. Muhammad said to him, ^Bear witness that there is no

god but Allah alone without associate, and disavow al-Lat and al-^Uzza.^ ❖Alt became a Muslim but
❖concealed his Islam and did not let it be seen. ❖ 1 - Islam at this time was a secret society.

Ibn Hanbal cites another tradition from ❖ Ali about what the Prophet attempted while Islam was being kept
concealed. ❖Alt said: ❖i and the Prophet walked till we came to the Ka^ba. Then the Prophet of Allah
said to me, ❖ Sit down. ❖ Then he stood on my shoulders and I arose. But when he saw that I could not

support him, he came down, sat down and said, ❖Stand on my shoulders.❖ Then I climbed on his
shoulders and he stood up and it seemed to me as if I could have touched the sky, had I wished. Then I
climbed on the roof of the Ka^ba on which there was an image of copper and iron. Then I began to loosen
it at its right and left side, in front and behind until it was in my power. Then the Prophet of Allah called to
me: ❖Throw it down. ❖ Then I threw it down so that it broke into pieces like a bottle. I then climbed down
from the Ka^ba and hurried away with the Prophet, till we hid ourselves in the houses for fear some one
might meet us.^ Shi ❖ah theologians have transferred this adventure to the time when the Prophet
reached Ka^ba after the conquest of Mecca.— But that is no more than a sectarian exercise. The language

of the tradition connects the event to the time when Islam was still a secret society. Moreover, ❖All is
shown as a boy rather than a stalwart which he had become by the time Mecca was conquered.

Another incident relates to the time after Islam had come out into the open. It was reported to Hamzah, the
Prophet^s uncle, that Abu^l Hakam, a Meccan chief whom the Muslims called Abu Jahl, had insulted
Muhammad. Hamzah was still a pagan and, therefore, cared for kinship ties. He went to Muhammad who
was sitting in the precincts of the Ka^ba, and said, ❖Thy uncle hast come to take vengeance on thy
enemy.❖ Muhammad asked him to leave alone the man ❖who has no uncle, neither father nor mother, no
man of business, nor wazir,^ meaning himself. ❖But Hamzah swore by Lat and U^zza saying, ❖! have
come only to aid and protect thee. ❖ ❖ The Prophet felt annoyed at his uncle^s mention of the pagan

Goddesses, and said, ❖l swear by that God who has sent me in truth, that if thou fightest long enough
against infidels to be drowned in their blood, thou will only be removed further and further from the Lord
of unity, until thou sayest, ❖! bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is
the apostle of Allah. ❖ ❖

On the whole, however, the situation in Mecca was unfavourable to the Prophet. The pagans were in a
strong position and he could not touch their idols or places of worship, howsoever keen he might have been
to desecrate or destroy them. His attempt to invite another Abyssinian invasion of Mecca for taking over

the Ka^ba and turning it into a place of monotheistic worship, was also a failure. The Christian king was
very kind to the Muslims whom Muhammad had sent to his court. His domestic situation, however, did not
permit a foreign adventure. The Prophet^s attempt to raise Ta^if against Mecca also ended in failure. He
found himself utterly helpless against the pagan stronghold. He could only curse the idolaters and invoke
Allah ❖ s wrath against them.

It was in Medina that his followers started doing something concrete vis-a-vis the idols, after they had
entered into a pact with him at al-^ Aqaba for moving his headquarters to their city. Ibn Ishaq reports,
❖When they came to Medina they openly professed Islam there. Now some of the shykhs still kept to their
old idolatry, among whom was ❖Amr b. al-Jamuh^ whose son Mu^adh had been present at al-^ Aqaba

and done homage to the apostle there. ^Amr was one of the tribal nobles and leaders and had set up in his
house a wooden idol called Manat as the nobles used to do, making it a god to reverence and keeping it
clean. When the young men of B. Sal atrial and his own son Mu^adh adopted Islam with the other men
who had been at al-^ Aqaba they used to creep in at night to this idol of ^Amr^s and carry it away and
throw it on its face into a cesspit. When the morning came ^Amr cried, 4>Woe to you! Who has been at
our gods this night? ^ Then he went in search of the idol and when he found it he washed it and cleaned it
and perfumed it saying, ^By God, if I knew who had done this I would treat him shamefully.^ When
night came and he was fast asleep they did the same again and he restored the idol in the morning^ This
happened several times

Alt found a Muslim stealing idols in the night and getting them burnt, when he stayed for a few days in

Quba^ after the Prophet had migrated from Mecca. Ibn Ishaq proceeds, ^>He used to say that in Quba^
there was an unmarried Muslim woman and he noticed that a man used to come to her in the middle of the
night and knock on her door; she would come out and he would give her something. He felt very suspicious
of him and asked her what was the meaning of this nightly performance as she was a Muslim woman
without a husband. She told him that he was Sahl b. Hunayf b. Wahib who knew that she was all alone and

he used to break up the idols of his tribe at night and bring her the pieces to use as fuel^ ^ —

The Prophet had also stayed at Quba^ in the course of his flight from Mecca. This was a place three miles

outside Medina. A mosque was built here during the Prophet^s stay. It was the first mosque in the history
of Islam. The details of die site on which it was built are not available in the sources. But we are told
something about the second and the major mosque built by the Prophet in Medina, soon after his arrival in

that city. The site was a garden which he purchased. According to a tradition from Anas b. Malik, ^There
were graves of the idolaters, dilapidated buildings and date trees [in the garden]. The Prophet gave the
order and the graves of the idolaters were dug out, the dilapidated buildings levelled [with the ground], and

the date trees cut down. ^ — Most probably the site was a sacred grove and the building that stood there
were places of pagan worship, neglected or abandoned due to the rising tide of monotheism in Medina.

This much at least is certain that the Prophet showed contempt for the graves of the idolaters. Cutting down
of date trees was also a sacrilege according to pagan ethics. In days to come, Muslims will show veneration
for graves in which their own brothers in faith are buried.

The available sources provide no evidence of the Prophet or his followers in Medina desecrating or
destroying any pagan shrines or breaking idols, during the many expeditions they mounted on tribal
settlements, far and near. It is unlikely that the biographers of the Prophet or other Muslim annalists
suppressed the facts on this score, for acts of iconoclasm were a matter of pride for them and an essential
element in their glorification of Islam. Most probably the Muslims did not get proper opportunities for this,
their favourite pastime, because most of the expeditions were surprise raids aimed at plunder. It is also
probable that the Prophet did not want to show his hand before the right time and thus provoke more than
normal resistance to his acts of aggression. Or, perhaps, it was the Prophet's strategy to break the morale of
the pagans by slaughter and rapine before he moved on to their places of worship. Whatever the reason, all
available evidence suggests that the Prophet was busy throughout this period in amassing booty and ransom
for financing his military machine.

The Muslim army that finally moved on Mecca in the year AH 8 (AD 630) was a formidable force by
Arabian standards of that time. Abbas b. Mirdas al-Sulami, the Muslim, poet sang:

With us on the day Muhammad entered Mecca

Were a thousand marked men-the valley flowed with them.

They had helped the apostle and been present at his battles.

Their marks on the day of battle being to the fore.

In a strait place their feet were firm.

They split the enemies^ heads like colocynths.

Their hooves had travelled Najd beforehand
Till at last black Hijaz became subject to them.

God gave him the mastery of it.

The judgment of the sword and victorious fortune subdued it to us^

Small wonder that Mecca surrendered without a fight. The pagan leader, Abu Sufyan, had developed cold
feet as soon as he saw the marshalled ranks, and gone over to Islam. Very soon, he will be breaking the

idols for which he had fought for long. ^ Abu Sufyan recited the following verses in which he excused
himself for what had gone before:

By the life when I carried a banner

To give al-Lat^s cavalry the victory over Muhammad

I was like the one going astray in the darkness of the night.

But now I am led on the right tracks

The conquest of Mecca by Muhammad was the most significant event in the history of Islam. The success
of the enterprise settled the character of Islam for all time to come. The lessons drawn from the success
constitute the core of Islamic theology as taught ever since in the sprawling seminaries. The principal
lessons are two. The first is that Muslims should continue resorting to violence on any and every pretext till
they triumph; setbacks are temporary. The second lesson is that Islam should refuse to coexist or
compromise with every other religion and culture, and use the first favourable opportunity to wipe out the
others completely so that it alone may prevail. Our present context is concerned with the second lesson.

The Temple of Ka^ba

Soon after entering Mecca, the Prophet went to the Ka^ba, took its key from ^HJthman B. Talha, and
entered it. Ibn Ishaq records, ^There he found a dove made of wood. He broke it in his hands and threw it
away. ^ Next he turned to the idols which were housed in and around the temple. They were 360 in
number. ^The apostle was standing by them with a stick in his hand, saying, ^The truth has come and

falsehood has passed away. Verily, falsehood is bound to pass away^ (Sura. 17.82).—Then he pointed at
them with his stick and they collapsed on their backs one after the other. When the apostle prayed the noon
prayer on the day of the conquest he ordered that all the idols which were round the Ka^ba should be
collected and burned with fire and broken up. FaDala b. al-Mulawwih al-Laythi said commemorating the
day of the conquest:

Had you seen Muhammad and his troops

The day the idols were smashed when he entered.

You would have seen God^s light become manifest
And darkness covering the face of idolatry.^

^►Biographical works are filled with the accounts of this proceeding, and that three hundred and sixty

idols, the greatest whereof was Hobal, had been erected by the idolaters around the Kabbah. In some
copies we read that Eblis had fixed the bases of all these idols underground with lead, but that nevertheless
when the apostle of Allah touched them with the lance or stick he had in his hands, and uttered the words:

^►Truth had come, and falsehood has departed^, the idols fell on their faces at the mere touch of the

staffs There is a tradition ascribed to A^bdullah B. A^bbas that whenever his lordship pointed on that
day to the face of an idol, the same immediately fell on its back, and whenever he pointed to the back it fell
on its face. ^ The Islamic lore has thus turned into a miracle what was actually a show of brute physical
force. ^Muhammad when he entered Mekka as victor is stated to have struck them in the eyes with his
bow before he had them dragged down and destroyed by fire. ^ - The burning of the idols gave rise to

another story in Islamic lore. ^►Upon the conquest of Mecca the Prophet cut open some of these idols with
his sword and black smoke is said to have issued forth from them, a sign of the psychic influence which
had made these idols their dwelling place. ^ - One wonders what else except smoke could have come out
when objects made of stone and wood were burnt. It is the privilege of Islamic lore to invest smoke with
psychic power.

Hubal, the principal idol in the Ka^ba. ^was pulled down and used as a doorstep when the Prophet

conquered Mecca and purified the Kabbah. This particular practice of the Prophet set up a pious
precedent which was followed extensively when Islamic iconoclasm arrived in India. Many Hindu idols
ended at the doorsteps of the principal mosques not only in Muslim capitals within India such as Ghazni,
Kabul, Lahore, Multan, Nagore, Ajmer, Delhi, Jaunpur, Gaur, Daulatabad, Mandu, Ahmadabad, Gulbarga,
Bidar, Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golkunda, Dhaka and Murshidabad, but also in far off places like Baghdad,

Mecca and Medina, ^The other stones which were worshipped as idols were actually used as cornerstones

of the Ka^ba and as such we must consider also the Maqam Ibrahim.^— This too was a pious precedent
which was followed extensively in India. A large number of mosques and other Muslim monuments in
India have Hindu idols or their pieces embedded in their masonry.

There was only one idol which the Prophet not only spared but also consecrated with his kiss so that every
Muslim who performs Hajj is expected to do the same. This was the black stone now described pompously

as al-Hajar al-ASwad. The Muslims present on the occasion felt puzzled by the Prophet^s partiality for
this particular stone. They were informed that the black stone had descended directly from heaven.
According to a well-known tradition ( hadith ) from Ibn ^ Abbas, the Prophet told his people, ^By Allah,
Allah will lift it up on the Last Day. It will have two eyes with which it will see. It will have a tongue with
which it will speak and stand witness for that man who had kissed it earnestly.^— Other peopled idols
are stones, while oilers own stone is God^s spokesman! Many of his followers must have remained
unimpressed by the mysterious pronouncement. A few years later. Caliph ^►Umar (AD 632-44), while
kissing the black stone, is reported to have said, know that you are a stone which can neither help nor
hurt. I would not have kissed you, had I not witnessed the Prophet of Allah kissing you.^

Idols were not the only ^►abominations^ which the Prophet had to take care of in the Ka^ba. Ibn Ishaq
and other biographers of the Prophet report that the ^►Quraysh had put pictures in the Ka^ba including
two of Jesus son of Mary and Mary^ The apostle ordered that the pictures would be erased except those of
Jesus and Mary. ^ According to a tradition, as ^►Umar began to wash out the pictures with the water of

the well known as Zamzam, ^Muhammad placed his hand on the pictures of Jesus and Mary and said,
^Wash out all except what is below my hands. ^ He then withdrew his hand. ^ There is no reason to

doubt that the walls of the Ka^ba carried paintings. Pagans have always been as fond of presenting their
pantheon and mythology through colour as through carving. But it is an invention that the paintings
included those of Jesus and Mary. The pagans who had maintained the Ka^ba and decorated its walls with
paintings were not only not enamoured of the Christian god and his mother, they actually entertained
abhorrence for them. Allah himself says in the Qur^an that the disbelievers show disrespect for Isa.
Referring to ^HJmar^s act of effacing the paintings, Margoliouth observes, ^Whom or what they
represented we know only on Mohammed ^s authority, which we are not inclined to trust

Scholars have made several speculations regarding the Prophet^s attitude to the Ka^ba. Basing
themselves on legends found in the biographies of the Prophet, some say that he had reverence for the
national sanctuary but regretted its misuse by the pagans. Some others say that when he changed the Qibla

from the Temple in Jerusalem to the Ka^ba in Mecca, he did so in order to conciliate Arab national

sentiment. ^We do not know the personal feelings of the youthful Muhammad towards the Ka^ba and
the Meccan cult, but they were presumably of a conventional nature. What the biography of the Prophet
tells us about his Meccan period in this respect can lay no claim to historical value. The Meccan revelations
tell us nothing about these relations during the important period in the life of the Prophet. In any case, he

felt no enthusiam for the Meccan sanctuary.^

In fact, there is a tradition that he wanted to destroy the Ka^ba. ^A^isha has reported him as saying to
her that ^Hf your people had not renounced ignorance promptly and become Musalmans, I would have
demolished the Ka^ba and rebuilt it with two doors. ^ " The tradition seems to be authentic because it

inspired demolition and rebuilding of the Ka^ba on two subsequent occasions. ^ When A Abdullah Bin
Zobeir heard this tradition he destroyed the building of the Qoraish whilst he held sway, and rebuilt the
Kabbah according to the intentions of his lordship the last of the prophets. When, however, Hajjaj Bin

Yusuf undertook by order of A^bd-ul-Malik Merwan [AD 685-705] a campaign against A Abdullah Bin
Zobeir and vanquished him, he destroyed the edifice built by the latter at the command of the same
Khalifah and re-erected it as the Qoraish had built it during the lifetime of his holy and prophetic lordship.
When Harun-ur-Rashid became Khalifah he desired to annihilate the edifice of Merwzan, and to rebuild the

Kabbah according to the model of A Abdullah Bin Zobeir. On this subject he consulted the Imam Malek,
but the latter replied: commander of the faithful, let the Kabbah alone, let it not become the sport of

kings.^ Accordingly Harun renounced his intention.^

What was this ^building of the Qoreish^ which Ibn Zubayr demolished and Hajjaj restored? This much
is clear from Muslim accounts that it was a pagan temple housing the idols of many Gods. These accounts,
however, insist that in the ancient past it was a place of monotheistic worship consecrated by Abraham.

There is only one Muslim account which preserves a pagan tradition. ^According to al-Mas^udi
(Murudj, iv, 47), certain people have regarded the Ka^ba as a temple devoted to the sun, the moon and the
five planets. The 360 idols placed round the Ka^ba also point in the same direction. It can therefore hardly
be denied that traces exist of an astral symbolism^ ^ : That the Ka^ba was a centre of sun-worship is
also confirmed by whatever memories of the pre-Islamic Hajj survive in Muslim accounts. ^ As soon as

the sun was visible, the ifaDa to Mina used to begin in pre-Islamic times. Muhammad therefore ordained
that this should begin before sunrise; here again we have the attempt to destroy a solar rite. In ancient times
they are said to have sung during the ifaDa, ashriq thabir kaima nughir. The explanation of these words is

uncertain; it is sometimes translated: Enter into light of morning, Thabir, so that we may hasten. 1

It is pointed out by apologists of Islam that the Prophet did not convert the pagan temple into a mosque and
that he only ^restored^ it to what it used to be in Abraham^s time. We known that the Abraham story

about the Ka^ba is a fabrication floated after the Prophet had left Mecca and quarrelled with the Jews of
Medina. And there was no specific architectural design for a mosque developed during the lifetime of the
Prophet; any structure, in any shape could serve the purpose. For the rest, everything that needs be done for
depriving a place of its pagan character and converting it into a place of Islamic worship, was done by the
Prophet. The conversion of the temple at Mecca into a mosque was complete when Bilal stood on the roof

of the Ka^ba and recited azan.

Idols in Mecca

In Mecca proper, Isaf and Na^Hla were the only other important idols outside the Ka^ba. They were the
deities of as-Safa and al-Marwah. that occasion the lord of apostleship ordered A^Hi^ to break to
pieces Asaf and Naylah^ When these two idols were broken a rude black woman issued from one of them,
when his holy and prophetic lordship said; ^This is Naylah. But she will never any more be worshipped in
your country. 4k 4>—

At the same time, ^The proclaimer authorised by the apostle of Allah went throughout Mecca calling upon
all those who believe in Allah and the Last Day to leave no idol unbroken in their homes. 4>—

Having ^purified^ Mecca, the Prophet sent ^expeditions to those idols which were in the
neighbourhood and had them destroyed; these included al-^Uzza, Manat, Suwa^L Buana and Dhu^l-
Kaffayn.^-

The Temple of al-^Uzza

^>Then the apostle sent Khalid to al-^MJzza which was in Nakhla. It was a temple which the tribe of
Quraysh and Kinana and all MuDar used to venerate. Its guardians were B. Shayban of B. Sulaym, allies of
B. Hashim. When the Sulami guardian heard of Khalid^s coming he hung his sword on her, climbed the
mountain on which she stood, and said:

O ^MJzza, make an annihilating attack of Khalid,

Throw aside your veil and gird up your train.

O ^HJzza, if you do not kill this man Kalid
Then bear a swift punishment or become a Christian.

When Khalid arrived he destroyed her and returned to the apostle.^— It is significant that the pagan priest
saw no difference between becoming a Muslim and becoming a Christian.

The rest of the story is told in other sources. ^He [the Prophet] asked him [Khalid], ^Did you see

anything?^ Khalid replied, ^Nothing.^ He [the Prophet] said, ^Go again, and smash her to pieces.^
Khalid went back, demolished the building in which the idol was housed, and started smashing the idol
itself. The [pagan] priest raised a cry, 4K) ^HJzza, manifest your might. All of a sudden a nude and
dishevelled black woman came out of that idol. Khalid cut her down with his sword and took possession of
the jewels and ornaments she wore. He reported the proceedings to the Prophet who observed. ^That was
^HJzza. She will be worshipped no more. ! ’ There is a tradition that when the expedition was sent to
Nakhla for the destruction of al-^Uzza, the Prophet instructed Khalid, ^>In whatever settlement you do
not hear the azan or see no mosque, slaughter the people of that placed

The Temple of Suwa^

^>The apostle of Allah sent ^Amr b. al-^As towards [the temple of] Suwa^, the idol of HuDayl, in
order to destroy it. When ^Amr arrived there, the priest [of the temple] asked him, ^KV'hat do you
want?^ ^Amr replied, ^The apostle of Allah has commanded me to destroy this idol. ^ He [the priest]
said, ^ You cannot overpower him.^ ^Amr asked, ^>Why?^> He [the priest] said, ^>He is well-
protected.^ ^Amr said. ^You subscribe to falsehood even now? May you perish! Does he hear or
see?^ ^Amr approached the idol and smashed it. Then he ordered his companions to demolish the house
which contained [the templets] treasure. That house yielded nothing.^

The Temple of Al-Manat

^The expedition to Manat was sent under Sa^d b. Zayd al-Ashahli in the Ramzan Of AH 8^ It was the
idol of Ghassan, Aws and Khazraj in al-Mushallal^ Sa^d started with twenty cavalrymen and reached
there at a time when the priest was in attendance. The priest asked them, ^ What do you want?^ They

said, ^Destruction of Manat. ^ The priest exclaimed, ^You, and want to do this! ^ Sa^d approached
the idol. A black and nude and dishevelled woman came out and advanced towards him, cursing and
beating her breast. The priest said, ^>0 Manat, manifest your might. ^ Sa^d started hitting her, and she
was cut down. He had asked his companions to take care of the idol in the meanwhile. They smashed it.
But the treasury yielded nothing,^ - Other sources attribute the destruction of the sanctuary of Manat in

Qudayd to ^ All bin Abu Talib, still others to Abu Sufyan.— One wonders whether more than one temple
of Manat was destroyed.

The Sacred Tree

Soon after the occupation of Mecca, the Prophet had to face a formidable alliance of pagan tribes that had
assembled in the valley of Hunayn between Mecca and Ta^if. Ibn Ishaq records a tradition from Harith b.

Malik: We went forth with the apostle to the Hunayn fresh from paganism. The heathen Quraysh and

other Arabs had a great green tree Dhatu Anwat to which they used to come every year and hang their
weapons on it and sacrifice beside it and devote themselves to it for a day. As the newly converted
pagans saw that tree, they said to the Prophet, ^Make us a tree to hang things on such as they have. The
Prophet chided them, comparing them to the people of Moses who wanted the latter to ^make us a god

even as they have gods.^— It is not recorded whether the sacred tree was cut down at that time. Perhaps
the Prophet was in a hurry. But it is a safe bet that it was marked for destruction.

The army of Islam suffered a severe setback in the first round of the Battle of Hunayn. The newly
converted pagans were overjoyed. Abu Sufyan, when he saw the Muslims in headlong flight,

observed, ^They will not stop till they reach the seashore.^ A pagan who had been granted respite from

conversion for a specified period asked, ^>Has not sorcery [Islam] come to an end today?

The Prophet himself was in great danger. The situation was saved by lack of tactical skill on the pagan side.
They failed to pursue the demoralised Muslim army, and were defeated by the counter-attack which
followed after the Muslims managed to regroup. The remnants of their defeated allies took refuge in the

fortified town of Ta^if. A Muslim poetess sang:

Allah^s cavalry has beaten Al-Lat^s cavalry.

And Allah best deserves to hold fast.—

Al-Lat was the chief Goddess of the allied pagan tribes, and had a renowned sanctuary in Ta^if. So the
army of Islam advanced towards this town.

Temple of Dhu^H Kaffayn

On the way the Prophet detached Tufayl b. ^ Amr al-Dausi and sent him to destroy the temple of Dhu^M
Kaffayn. It was maintained by his own tribe of Daus. He was to rejoin the main army after accomplishing
the assignment. ^He moved fast towards his people, and destroyed Dhu^l Kaffayn. As he set fire to the
idol, starting from its face, he said:

O Dhu^H Kaffayn! we are not of those that obey you,

Our birth goes back much prior to your own.

See, I have stuffed your heart with fire.

Four hundred men from his tribe followed him when he went back to the Prophet. ^

The army of Islam was full of confidence when it arrived outside Ta^Hf. The court poet of the Prophet,
Ka^>b b. Malik sang:

Al-Lat and Al-^Uzza and Wudd are forgotten,

And we plunder them of their necklaces and earings.

And Shaddad b. ^AriD al-Jushami said:

Doiv^t help A^-Lat for God is about to destroy her
How can one who cannot help herself he helped?—

But the boast proved empty and al-Lat survived on this occasion. Ta^if proved a hard nut to

crack. ^ When he found the gates closed and determined resistance offered, he endeavoured to frighten the
Thakafites by a wholesale destruction of their property. This was how he had dealt with the Banu Nadir.
But the Thakafites were no Jews.^> The siege had to be raised, though newly acquired heavy war-engines
were employed for battering the city walls.

Temples Around Ta^if

The only satisfaction the Prophet could derive was from what he got done in the environs. He bordered his

glorious companions to fell the date-trees and to destroy the vineyards of the neighbourhood,^ which acts
were considered serious crimes according to the ethics of pagan warfare. The Prophet had learnt the art of
total war from the Judaic and Christian scriptures. He also indulged in his most favourite pastime. ^It is
related in some biographies that while the siege of Tayf was being carried on, his holy and prophetic
lordship appointed A^Mi Murtadza with a number of glorious companions to make excursions into the

country, and to destroy every idol they could fiud^ Thereon A^Hi, the Commander of the Faithful^
destroyed all the idols of the Bani Hoazan and Bani Thaqyf which were in that region. The apostle was
waiting for his return near the gate of the fort of Tayf, and as soon as the prince of saints had terminated his
business, he joined the august camp, was received by the seal of prophets with the exclamation of the

Takbyr^^ - No count of temples destroyed is available in the sources. They must have been many.
Islamic invaders of India followed the example whenever they besieged a town.

The Mosque of Opposition

^The apostle,reports of Ibn Ishaq, ^went on until he stopped in Dhu Awan a town an hour^s light
journey from Medina. The owners of the mosque of opposition had come to the apostle as he was preparing
for Tabuk saying, ^We have built a mosque for the sick and needy and for nights of bad weather, and we

should like you to come to us and pray for us there. He said that he was on the point of travelling, and
was preoccupied, or words to that effect, and that when he came back he would come to them and pray for
them in it.

^ When he stopped in Dhu Awan news of the mosque came to him, and he summoned Malik b. al-
Dukhshum^ and Ma^n b. ^Adiy^ and told them to go to the mosque of those evil men and destroy and
burn it. They went quickly to B. Salim b. ^ Auf who were Malikas clan, and Malik said to

Ma^n, ^>Wait for me until I can bring fire from my people. So he went in and took a palm-branch and
lighted it, and then the two of them ran into the mosque where its people were and burned and destroyed it
and the people ran away from it.^

The sources offer no evidence that this mosque was built on land acquired illegitimately, as some
apologists of Islam like Ashgar Ali Engineer have been saying in the context of the Ramajanmabhumi
controversy. The only point which emerges is that it was built by Muslims who did not see eye to eye with

Muhammad. Margoliouth observes: ^Of the rights and wrongs of this affair nothing decided will ever be
known: the revelation in which it is mentioned,— and which contains a variety of oracles delivered in
connection with the expedition to Tabuk, is in a tone of bitterness and vexation such as disappointment and

opposition are likely to engender in a man of Mohammed^s temperament. The people of Medinah and
their new Bedouin allies are charged with harbouring Hypocrites: and it also appears that the Koran was
beginning to give rise to criticism from which the Prophet had suffered at Meccah. When a new revelation
comes down, people at Medinah ask each other sarcastically whether their faith had been increased. Knots
of people are found talking and laughing: inspite of the most earnest denials, the Prophet is of the opinion

that the Koran has provided the materials for their amusement^ Mere is also one verse in the tirade
suggesting that some of the malcontents disliked the plan of living on plunder which was now characteristic
of Islam, and wished a more honest system inaugurated^^—

Obviously, the mosque of opposition was built by people who were monotheists like Muhammad but who
did not believe that the doctrine enjoined bloodshed and rapine which had become the Muslims^ daily
practice. Small wonder that Allah of the Qur^an who sanctioned mass slaughter and endless accumulation

of plunder by the faithful, did not approve of such ^toothless^ monotheism. So he moaned, ^Is he who
founded his building upon duty to Allah and his good pleasure better; or he who founded his building on
the brink of a crumbling, overhanging precipice so that it toppled with him into the fire of hell?^

Invitations to Islam

The occupation of Mecca had sky-rocketled the prestige of the Prophet. ^Mn deciding their attitude to

Islam, ^ writes Ibn Ishaq, ^the Arabs were only waiting to see what happened to the clan of Quraysh and
the apostle. For Quraysh were the leaders and guides of men, the people of the sacred temple, and the pure
stock of Ishmael son of Abraham; and the leading Arabs did not contest this. It was Quraysh who had
declared war on the apostle and opposed him; and when Mecca was occupied and Quraysh became subject
to him and he subdued it to Islam, and the Arabs knew that they could not fight the apostle or display

enmity towards him they entered into God^s religion ^in batches^ as God said,— coming to him from

all directions.^ — Muhammad^s war-machine was sending waves of terror towards all tribes, which was a
very effective message. There was a debate afoot everywhere whether to fight for the ancient religion and
tribal honour, or submit to Muhammad and become Muslim. The Prophet^s intelligence network kept him
informed of what was happening where. He was swift in exploiting the psychological crisis to his own
advantage.

The groundwork had been done during the preceding two years. Ibn Sa^d provides a list of tribal chiefs to
whom the Prophet had sent invitations to Islam, starting soon after the Treaty of Hudaybiya with the
Meccans in the year AH 6.— The letters containing his messages were carried by special couriers selected
from among his companions. The message varied according to the status and strength of the tribe

concerned. Unfortunately, Ibn Sa^d has lumped together the invitations without regard for chronological
sequence. This much, however, can be inferred that their tone became sharper as the author of the messages
marched from one victory to another, the acme being reached in the conquest of Mecca and the Battle of
Hunayn.

At first Muhammad wrote his letters beginning with basmak al-Laham, begin in the name of Allah, ^
after the custom of the Quraysh. A special revelation came and he was commanded to begin
with bismallah, ^In the name of Allah. Another revelation amended the formula to bismallah al-
RaHman al-RaHun , ^In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. ^ Finally, it was revealed to
him that he should begin with bismallah al-RaHim al-WaHid, the name of Allah, the Compassionate,
the Onc.^F

The general tenor of the messages sent was the same-dissociate from the idolaters which meant an order to
destroy pagan temples and break idols; bear witness that Allah is one without partners and Muhammad is
his messenger; establish prayers which meant an order to build mosques; pay zakat and other taxes to the
central treasury at Medina; send to the Prophet one-fifth of the plunder obtained from raids on the
polytheists; and keep the highways free from disturbance so that Muslim delegations can travel unmolested
for converting people and collecting taxes. In exchange, the tribes were assured that they could keep their
lands, their cattle, their wells, their gardens, their houses and such of their special customs as did not come
in conflict with Islam. Defiance, they were warned, will entail slaughter of their men, capture of their
women and children, and laying waste of their country. And punitive expeditions were sent to those tribal

settlements which molested the Prophet^s messengers or otherwise refused to abide by his dictates.— The

fear was abroad that ^the Prophet of Allah may send a military force. ^ When Bani Tamim refused to
pay zakat, they were attacked, and eleven of their women and thirty of their children were captured and
dragged to Medina.

The Year of Deputations

^ When the apostle had gained possession of Mecca, ^ reports Ibn Ishaq, ^and had finished with Tabuk,
and Thaqif had surrendered and paid homage, deputations from the Arabs came to him from all
directions.^— Ibn Sa^d lists as many as seventy-one deputations which waited on Muhammad in Medina,

the last one being on behalf of the wolves. 4k — It seems that the beasts also had taken fright and were
prepared to become Muslims or the beasts felt that they, too, could confess the faith without suffering
inconvenience.

Strangely enough, a deputation came to Muhammad from Ta4kif soon after he had suffered a repulse
outside that city. It seems that the morale of the people in this town has collapsed as they saw what was
happening all around. The deputation met Muhammad even before he had reached Medina. It was led by

4kUrwa b. Mas4kud al-Thaqafi who was one of the leaders of resistance when Ta4kif was besieged by the
army of Islam. 4HJrwa requested Muhammad to make him a Muslim so that he could go back and invite
his people to the true faith. He was baptised and sent back. But 4>when he went up to an upper room and
showed his religion to them they shot arrows at him from all directions, and one hit him and killed him. 4k

The debate in Ta4kif, however, did not come to an end. One of their chiefs said, ^We are in an impasse.
You have seen how the affair of this man has progressed. All the Arabs have accepted Islam and you lack
the power to fight them, so look to your ease 4k So after conferring together they dicided to send a man to

the apostle as they had sent 4k Urwa 4k 4k 1 The man approached for the job refused to go alone. Finally a
deputation consisting of six chiefs reached Medina and met the Prophet.

The Temple of Al-Lat

Among the things they asked the apostle, reports Ibn Ishaq, ^>was that they should be allowed to
retain their idol Al-Lat undestroyed for three years. The apostle refused, and they continued to ask him for
a year or two, and he refused; finally they asked for a month after their return home, but he refused to agree
to any set time. All that they wanted as they were trying to show was to be safe from their fanatics and
women and children by leaving her, and they did not want to frighten their people by destroying her until
they had accepted Islam.

The apostle refused this ^ They had also asked that he would excuse them from prayer and they should not
have to break their idols with their own hands. The apostle said: ^We excuse you from breaking your idols
with your own hands, but as for prayer there is no good in a religion which has no prayers.^ They said that
they would perform them though it was demeaning^

^ When they had accomplished their task and had set out to return to their country the apostle sent with
then Abu Sufyan and al-Mughira to destroy their idol. They travelled with the deputation and when they
neared al-Ta^if, al-Mughira wanted to send on Abu Sufyan in advance. The latter refused and told him to
go to his people while he stayed in the property of Dhu^M-Haram.— When al-Mughira entered he went up
to the idol and struck it with a pick-axe. His people the B. Mu^attih stood in front of him fearing that he

would be shot or killed as ^MJrwa had been. The women of Thaqif came out with their heads uncovered
bewailing her and saying:

O weep for our protector
Poltroons would neglect her
Whose swords need a corrector.

Abu Sufyan, as al-Mughira smote her with the axe, said, ^ Alas for you, alas! ^ When al-Mughira had
destroyed her and taken what was on her and her jewels he sent for Abu Sufyan when her jewellery and
gold and beads had been collected.

^►Now Abu MulayH b. ^HJrwa and Qarib b. al-Aswad had come to the apostle before the Thaqif
deputation when ^HJrwa was killed, desiring to separate themselves from Thaqif and to have nothing to do
with them^ ^ L'rwa asked the apostle to settle a debt his father had incurred from the property of the idol.
The apostle agreed and Qarib b. al-Aswad asked for the same privilege for his father^ The apostle said,
^>But al-Aswad died a polytheist.^ He answered, ^But you will be doing a favour to a Muslim a near
relation,^ meaning himself^ The apostle ordered Abu Sufyan to satisfy the debts of ^Urwa and al-
Aswad from the property of the idol^ ^ —

^►Urwa and al-Aswad show the stuff of which voluntary converts to Islam were made. Most of them were
questionable characters.

Temples of B. Sa^d B. Bakr

They sent their chief, Dimam b. Tha^Maba, to the Prophet. Dimam asked some questions and ended by
becoming a Muslim. He went back to his people and said, ^How evil are al-Lat and al-^HJzza!^ His
people rebuked him, ^Heavens above, Dimam, beware of leprosy and elephantiasis and madness!^ He
replied, ^ Woe to you, they can neither hurt nor heal. God has sent an apostle and sent down to him a book,

so seek deliverance thereby from your present state..."— He then destroyed the idols ^Ht was not yet
evening that day that all men and women became Muslamans. They built mosques and recited azans so that
people came to prayers.

The Temple of B. Sulaym

Seven hundred people from B. Sulaym had waited on the Prophet while he was in Qudayd on his way to
Mecca, which he occupied soon after. They went to him again after the conquest of Mecca, Battle of

Hunayn and the siege of Ta^if. Their leader Ghadi b. ^ Ahu al-^Uzza was the keeper of their temple.
The Prophet bestowed upon him the estate of Rehata which had a spring in it. He came back and composed
the following couplets about the idol he had worshipped earlier:

How can that be, God, on whom
The foxes came and stated?

He is abominable without a doubt.

He on whom the foxes staled.

He attacked the idol and smashed it to pieces. When he waited upon the Prophet with this report, he was
asked, ^ What is your name?^ He said, ^Ghadi ^ Abel al-^Uzza.^ The Prophet said, ^ You are
Rashid b. ^Abd

Raba.^— People whose names referred to pagan Gods were always given new names by the Prophet-
names which referred to the god of Islam.

The Christian Church of Yamama

A deputation of nineteen men from B. Hanifa came to Medina. They were given rich food and instructed in
Islam by the Prophet. Each of them was given five ounces of silver as a gift. When they got ready to go

back, the Prophet gave them a vessel of water with which he had performed his ablutions. He said, ^ When

you return to your country, destroy the church, wash the site with water, and build a mosque on it. They

did accordingly. The priest in charge of the church ran away. His days were over.

The Temples of Fils and RuDa^ in Tayy

^>The Prophet sent ^ Alt b. Abi Talib towards the temple of Fils belonging to the tribe of Tayy, with an
order to destroy it^> He went with two hundred horsemen^

❖ ❖Ali inflicted atrocities on them and took prisoners from among them. He obtained two swords from the
temple; one of them was named Rasub, the other Makhzam. It was well-known that these swords had been

brought as an offering to the temple by Harith b. Abi Thamar. Among the prisoners was a sister of ^ Adi b.

Hatim^^— Hatim Tayy, the father of the girl, was a pagan chief renowned for his liberality. Islamic lore
at present tells many stories about him without revealing that he was a pagan. The temple of Fils which was
destroyed was on Mount Aja^. Another deity of Tayy was RuDa^. - His temple, too, met the same fate.

The Temple of ^Amm Anas

A deputation consisting of ten men came to Medina from Khaulan in the year AH 10. They informed the
Prophet that they were Muslims. The Prophet asked, ^What about your idol of ^Amm Alias'?^ They
replied, ^That is in a bad shape. We have exchanged him for Allah whom you have brought. When we go

back, we shall destroy him. ^ They were instructed in Islam and entertained lavishly. After a few days, the
Prophet ordered that each of them be given twelve and a half ounces of silver as reward. They went back
and destroyed the idol of ^Amm Anas ^cven before they untied their luggage.

The Temple of ^MJzra

A deputation of twelve men from B. ^MJzra came to Medina and said to the Prophet, ^We are worried
about our people.^ The Prophet instructed them in Islam and gave them gifts. He was told that the idol of
^HJzra had spoken and confirmed his prophethood. He observed, ^This seems to be a believing

jinn.^T Idols, too, it seems, could become believers. It is not recorded whether the idol was kept or
removed.

The Temple of Al-Jahina

^Amr b. Marrah al-Jahni relates, ^We had an idol which we used to honour. I was its keeper. When I
heard of the Prophet, I destroyed it. Then I went to Medina and became a Muslim. I composed the
following verse:

I bear witness that Allah is true,

I am the first to renounce stone idols.

The Temple of Farraz

Dbab, a man from the tribe of Sa^d al-Ashira attacked the idol named Farraz and smashed it to pieces. He
went with a deputation to the Prophet and said:

I became a follower of the Prophet
When he brought (good) instructions.

I consigned Farraz to a status of dishonour,

I attacked him and left him in a state

As if he never existed; this is the time of revolutions.—

The Temple of Dhu^l-KhalaSa

Jarir b. ^Abd-allah al-Bahli came to Medina with one hundred and fifty men. All of them professed Islam.

The Prophet asked Jarir about those whom he had left behind. Jarir replied, ^>0 apostle of Allah! Allah
has made Islam dominant among them. Azan prevails from mosques and courtyards. They have destroyed
the idols they used to worship. ^ The Prophet asked, ^KVhat happened to the idol of Dhu^M KhalaSa?^
He was told, ^He is as before. Allah willing, we will be rid of him.^ The Prophet sent them back. Jarir

returned before long and reported, have destroyed the idols and taken whatever it wore. I set fire to it
and reduced it to such a state that whoever had honoured him will now hate him. No one stopped us from
doing this. ^

^It is reported that after the burning and destruction of the idol-temple the inhabitants of Dhu^H-Khalasa
attained the nobility of Islam. The treasury belonging to that temple contained much property and
perfumes, all of which was brought to Medinah. When his holy and prophetic lordship heard what had
taken place, and that the idol-temple had been demolished, he rejoiced greatly, inviting a benediction on

Jaryr and his tribe

^►Some of the idols were made use of for other purposes, as for example the idol of Dhu^M-KhalaSa, a
white piece of marble in which a crown was carved and which was worshipped at Tabala, a place on the
road from Mekka to Yaman, was in the time of Ibn al-Kalbi (about AH 200) used as a stepping-stone under

the mosque at Tabala^

The Temple of RuDa^

It was the temple of B. Rabija, a branch of B. Tamim. Al-Mustaughir b. Rabija, a man of the same tribe,
destroyed it. He sang:

I smashed RuDa^ so completely that
I left it a black ruin in a hollow.—

Surveying the scene in the year of deputations, Margoliouth sums up, ^>The iconoclasm which had raged

at Medinah at the time of the Prophet^s arrival spread far and wide, now it had been clearly proved that
the old gods were incapable of defending themselves or of even taking revenge on those who broke
them. Facts which had remained unheeded for generations suddenly began to suggest important inferences:
one man observed that his god suffered himself to be desecrated by beasts, and declined henceforward to
worship a deity on whom the foxes staled. The persons who hurry to place their incense on the altar of

success are familiar figures in all ages: and many a comedy was enacted at these visits

Conclusion

Thus the practices of the Prophet or his Sunnah vis-a-vis idols and idol-temples was added to prescriptions
of the Qur^an in this respect, and the Islamic theology of iconoclasm stood completed. Ever since,
iconoclasm has been a prominent as well a permanent part of the theology of Islam.

Allah had denounced the idols and their worship as abominable. His prophet got the idols broken or burnt,
and their temples destroyed.

The Prophet added a few nuances on his own. He got the sites and materials of pagan temples used in the
construction of mosques that replaced them. In many cases, idols were placed on the footsteps of the

mosques so that the faithful could trample upon them while entering and coming out of Allah^s abodes.
These acts, too, became pious precedents and were followed by Islamic invaders wherever they came
across idols.

The Place of Sunnah in Islam

People who have not studied the theology of Islam as expounded in orthodox treatises, believe that Islam
stands for obedience to the commandments of Allah as revealed in the Qur^an. They do not know that
Allah is no more than mere window-dressing and that for all practical purposes the Prophet rules the roost.

Muhammad had made Allah into his private preserve when he proclaimed that no one except him knew the
will of Allah first-hand, and that he alone will intercede on the Day of Judgment for deciding who will
enter paradise and who will sink into hell. Going further, he made Allah helplessly dependent on the

Muslim millat when he prayed on the eve of the battle of Badr, God, if this band perishes today. Thou

will be worshipped no more. This became a refrain in every Muslim prayer offered on the eve of every
battle fought in the history of Islam against the infidels. Allama Iqbal was not innovating when he
addressed Allah in hisShikwah and asked, ^Did anyone before us bother about you ? & Shikwalior

complaint is a long poem written by the ^great poet of Islamin the first decade of this century, and
expresses the anguish of Islam vis-a-vis the rise of Christians in the West and Hindus in India.

Muslims have a popular saying in Persian language, &ba Klmda diwand bash wa bd Muhammad

hoshiyar, & that is, one may become wild about Allah but one should beware when it comes to
Muhammad. Khuda is the Persian word for Allah. Islam is, therefore, spelled out more correctly when it is
called Muhammadanism. For, it is not Allah but Muhammad who sits at the heart of Islam and controls its
head as well.

The process of deifying the life-style of the Prophet had started in his own life-time. Margoliouth observes,
^>He inherited the devotion and adulation which had hitherto been bestowed on the idols; and though he
never permitted the word worship to be used of the ceremonies of which he was the object, he ere long
became hedged in with a state which differed little form that which surrounded a god^>^— The concept of
the Sunnah, that is, the practices of the Prophet, had also developed towards the end of his days.—

The rightly-guided Caliphs who followed the Prophet regarded the Sunnah as a sure key to success. Quirks
of history, which gave many victories to the Muslim arms in the first century AH, convinced the
theologians of Islam that the Sunnah was divine in its inspiration. They became busy in collecting and

collating every detail of the Prophet^s practices, from the act of coughing to that of waging holy wars and
administrating what had become his exclusive kingdom. The Sunnah was soon placed on par with the

Qur^an. ^Hn the Qur^an, ^ they propounded, ^ Allah speaks through Muhammad; in the Sunnah, He
acts through him. Thus Muhammad^s life is a visible expression of Allah^s utterances in the Qur^an.
God provides the divine principle, Muhammad the living pattern.^ 1

While the ulama expounded the Sunnah to the sultans, it was the sufts who practised it most meticulously.
The very first sufi illustrated what the Sunnah stood for. Faridu^d-Din Attar gives the story of Uwaysh
Qarni who lived in the days of the Prophet but had never met or seen him. ^ If mar and ^ All were on a
visit to Kufa when they learnt that Qarni lived in the valley of ^HJrfa, grazing cattle and eating dry bread.

They went to see him. ^The honourable Uwaysh said, ^ You are Companions of the Prophet. Could you
tell me which one of his sacred teeth was martyred in the battle of Uhud? Why have you not broken all
your teeth out of reverence for the Prophet?^ This said, he opened his mouth and showed that all his teeth

were gone. He explained, ^KVhcn I learnt that a tooth of the Prophet had been martyred, I broke one of
mine. Then I thought that perhaps some other tooth of his had been martyred. So I broke all my teeth, one
after another. It is only after that that I felt at peace ^. Having heard him the two Companions got
awestruck, and felt convinced that this was the correct conduct

The Sunnah has been the prison-house in which the world of Islam has lived ever since. Every pious
Muslim aspires to do things exactly as the Prophet did. Aping the Prophet in the matter of destroying other
peoples places of worship, and building mosques with their materials is no exception. A Muslim
who can do this pious deed but does not do it, disobeys the Prophet.

There are very few historical mosques, particularly Jama^ Masjids, in the world of Islam which do not

stand on sites occupied earlier by other people^s places of worship. Many Christian churches yielded
place to mosques all over West Asia, North Africa, Spain and South-eastern Europe, even though
Christians were People of the Book whose places of worship were to be protected once they agreed to
become zimmts. Fire-temples of the Zoroastrians suffered the same fate all over what constituted the empire
of Iran on the eve of the Muslim conquest. The greatest havoc, however, was wrought in the vast cradle of
Hindu culture where hundreds of thousands of Buddhist Brahmanical, Jain and other Hindu temples
disappeared or yielded place to mosques and other Muslim monuments.

Today there are no Hindu temples in the Central Asian republics of Russia, Sinkiang province of China,
Makran and Seistan provinces of Ban, and the whole of Afghanistan, all of which were honeycombed with
them before the advent of Islam. Whatever Hindu temples had come up during the Sikh and British rule in
what are now known as Pakistan and Bangladesh, are fast disappearing. The same has been happening in
the valley of Kashmir.

The Archaeological Survey of India, which included Pakistan and Bangladesh till 1947, has identified
many mosques and other Muslim monuments which stand on the sites of Hindu temples and/or have temple
materials embedded in their masonry. Many inscriptions in Arabic and Persian bear testimony that Hindu
temples were destroyed for constructing mosques. Local traditions can point out many more mosques
which have replaced Hindu temples. Cartloads of Hindu idols are known to have been brought and placed

on the steps of the Jami^> Masjids in several cities which were Muslim capitals at one time. Some of those
idols may still be buried under the stairs of the same mosques. In short, the study of Islamic iconoclasm in
this country, not to speak of the whole cradle of Hindu culture, has yet to make a meaningful start.

What we have proved beyond doubt is that destroying other peopled places of worship and converting
them into Muslim monuments is not only sanctioned but also prescribed by the tenents of Islam, the same

way as reciting the kalima, doing namaz, paying zakdt, keeping rozah, and going on hajj. Anyone who says
that Islam does not permit this practice is either ignorant of the creed, or has been deceived by Islamic
apologetics developed in recent time. If a Muslim scholar or politician makes this statement, he is talking
tongue-in-cheek, and stands exposed as a knave.

Footnotes:

- Ibn Ishaq, op. cit, pp. 10- 11. The pagan Gods are supposed to be dead matter in the lore of the
prophetic creeds. But, as we have seen and shall see, these Gods not only speak but also produce
live beings, animal as well as human, whenever they are threatened with destruction.

2 Ibid., pp. 15-16.

- The Rauzat-us-Safa, op. cit., p. 33.

- Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 22.

2 D.S. Margoliouth. op. cit., p. 37.

- Ibid., p. 104.

- Ibid., pp. 69-70.

- The Rauzal-us-Safa, op. cit., P. 85.

- Ibid., pp. 89-90.

— Ibid., p. 92.

— Translated from ^Alama Abdullah al-Ahmdi^s Urdu version of Tabqat-i-ibn Sa &d, Part
I: Aklibar an-Nabi, Karachi, (n.d.), p. 233.

— The Rauzat-us-Safa, op. cit., Vol. I, pt. II, p. 115.

— Tabqat-i-ibn Sa &d, op. cit., pp. 245-46.

— Ibid., p. 250. Idols can speak when it concerns prophets.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 80.

— The Rauzat-us-Safa, op. cit., p. 127.

- Ibid., p. 128.

— Insert from Ibn Khallikan in Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 115.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VII, p. 562.

— See The Rauzat-us-Safa, op. cit, Vol. II, pt. II, pp. 599-600. Also Saiyid Safdar Hosain. The
Early History of Islam, Lucknow 1933, Delhi Reprint 1985, Vol. I, pp. 193-94.

— The Rauzat-us-Safa. op. cit., p. 179.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., pp. 207.

— Ibid., pp. 227-28.

— Translated from the Urdu version of SaHili Bukhari Sharif New Delhi, 1984, Vol. I, p. 240. See
also the Urdu version of Sunn Nasai Sharif, New Delhi, 1986, Vol. I, p. 240, and Tarikh-i-Tabari,
Vol. I ,Sirat an-Nabi, Karachi (n.d), p. 145.

— Ibn Hi shames notes in Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 775. ^Marked men^> means men carrying
military colours or standards signifying various formations.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 546.

— The verse was cited whenever Muslim invaders destroyed Hindu temples.

— Ibid., op. cit., p. 552.

— The Rauzat-us-Safa, op. cit., Vol. II, pt. II, p. 599.

First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VII, p. 147.

— Cyril Glasse op. cit., p. 179.

21 Ibid., p. 160.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. VII, pp. 147-48.

— Translated from the Urdu version of Mishkat Sharif, Delhi (n.d.), Vol. I, P. 572.

22 Ibid., p. 574.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 552.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 587.

— Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 387.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. IV, p. 587

— Translated from the Urdu version of Jami Tirmizi, New Delhi, 1983, Vol. I, p. 330.

— The Rauzat-us-Safa, op. cit., Vol. I, pt. II, p. 133.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 591.

— Ibid., Vol., Ill, p. 200. We shag deal with this subject further in Appendix 2.

— The Rauzat us-Safa, op. cit., Vol. II, pt. II, P. 599.

— Tahqat-i-lbn Sa &d, op. cit., p. 478. See also Martin \Ang,Muhammad, Rochester, (Vermont,
USA), 1983, p. 301.

46 Ibid.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 565.

— Tarikh-i-Tabart, op. cit., pp. 404-05.

— Tabat-i-Ibn Sa &d, op. cit, p. 488.

52 Ibid., p. 85.

51 Ibid., pp. 485-86.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. V, pp. 231-32.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., pp. 568-69.

— Tdrikh-i-Tabari, op. cit., p. 413.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 572.

— Tabqat-i-Ibn Sa &d, op. cit., p. 496.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit. p. 588.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 404.

— The Rauzal-us-Safa, op. cit, Vol. II, pt. II, pp. 630-31. Takbir is the Muslim war-cry, Alla.hu
Akbar.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 609.

— Qur^an, Sura 9. This is the last Sura of Qur^an, speaking chronologically. It shows the
frustration of Muhammad at the failure of his mission. Allah says that most people who had
converted to Islam were hypocrites, that is, pagans at heart.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., pp. 424-45.

-Qur^an, 9.109.

-Ibid., Sura 110.

Ibn Ishaq, op. cit, p. 628. Reference to Abraham and Ishmeal may be ignored as concoctions.

Tabat-i-Ibn Sa &d, op.cit. Part II, pp. 29-64.

— Ibid., p. 35.

55 Ibid., p. 53.

— Ibid., p. 62.

— Ibid., p. 67.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 627.

— Tabqat-i-Ibn Sa &cl, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 64-136.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit, p. 614.

-Ibid., 615.

— Al-Mughira belonged to Ta^if and was an earlier convert.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., pp. 615-17.
n Ibid., p. 635.

— Tabqdt-i-Ibn-Sa &d, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 73.

— Ibid., p. 81.

— Ibid., p. 90-91.

— Ibid., p. 97.

— Tarikh-i-Tabari, op. cit., p. 445.

— First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 624.

— Tabqdt-i-Ibn Sa &d, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 100.

55 Ibid., p. 107.

— Ibid., p. 109.

52 Ibid., p. 118.

— Ibid., pp. 123-24.

— The Rauzat-us-Safa, op. cit., Vol. II, pt. II, pp. 677-79.

— First Encyclopaedia Islam, op. cit., Vol. VII, p. 147.

— Ibn Ishaq, op. cit., p. 39.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., pp. 431-32.

— Sirat Rasul Allah, op. cit., p. 300.

— D.S. Margoliouth, op. cit., p. 216.

— Sirat Rasul Allah, op. cit., p. 645-46.

— Ram Swarup, Understanding Islam through Hadis: Religious Faith or Fanaticism?, Voice of
India, New Delhi, Second Reprint, 1987, p. vii.

— Shaykh Faridu^d-Din Attar, Tadhkirat al-Awliyd & translated into Urdu by Maulana Zubayr
Afzal Usmani, Delhi n.d., p. 16.

APPENDIX 1

MUSLIM DYNASTIES IN INDIANS HISTORY

Muslim dynasties which figure in the history of India are divided, by modern historians of medieval India
into two categories - Imperial and Provincial. Dynasties which ruled from Delhi/Agra are called Imperial
Dynasties, whatever might have been the extent of their domain or power. On the other hand, dynasties
which ruled independently of Delhi/Agra are labelled as Provincial Dynasties, even though some of them
overshadowed the contemporary Imperial Dynasties in terms of territory controlled, or power wielded, or
both.

Strangely enough, the Yarhinis of Ghazni and the Shanshabanis of Ghur are not included in any of the two
categories. They are supposed to be foreign dynasties having their seats outside India proper and being
interested in expanding their domain in Islamic lands to their west and north as well. Medieval Muslim
historians, however, do not look at the Yaminis and the Shanshabanis in that way; they regard both of them
as inextricably entwined with the history of India. We agree with the medieval Muslim historians. Firstly,
Afghanistan was very much a part of India not only in the days of these dynasties but till as late as the
disintegration of the Mughal empire in the eighteenth century. Secondly, the so-called Indian dynasties
were prevented from intervening in the larger world of Islam not by any lack of willingness on their part
but because, starting with the rise of the Mongols in the first quarter of the thirteenth century, the powers
that arose in Persia and Transoxiana made it difficult for them to do so.

In any case, there is nothing Indian about any of the Muslim dynasties, no matter from where they
functioned. All of them were equally foreign in terms of inspiration and behaviour, even if not always in
terms of blood. A bandit who breaks into my house with sword in hand and occupies it by means of brute
force, does not become a member of my family simply because he lives under my roof and fattens on my
food; he remains a bandit, no matter how long the occupation lasts. He never acquires moral or legal
legitimacy. Nor does that member of my family who takes to the ways of the bandit retain the ties which
once bound us together; I am fully within my rights to look at him also as one of the bandit team. I am not
impressed at all if the bandit believes in a right acquired by conquest or bestowed by a being named Allah,
and quotes from a book he deems as divine. Nor am I prepared, like Jawaharlal Nehru and his degenerate

secularist clan, to consider the bandit a member of my family, simply because he drags into his bed my
sister or daughter or some other female from my household. I am not called upon to recognize his right to
rule over me, and hesitate in throwing him out as soon as I can muster the strength to do so. I am, therefore,
treating as foreign to India, more so to the intrinsic spirit of Indian culture, all Muslim dynasties which
figure in the Islamic invasion of or rule over this country or any of its parts.

A brief descriptions of these dynasties together with the number of rulers which each of them had, is given
below. Each king who figures in our citations, epigraphic or literary, is being given his number in the order
of dynastic succession together with his reign-period. 1 That should suffice to place him and his doings in a
proper historical perspective.

The dynasties have been listed in a chronological order, that is, with reference to the time at which they
arose. There are several dynasties and many rulers who do not figure in our citations. That does not mean
that none of them can be credited with the pious performance of destroying Hindu places of worship. For
all we know, those dynasties and kings figure in histories which have remained inaccessible to us,
particularly the provincial and local histories and the biographies of individual kings and commanders. The
doings of sufis in this particular context are being taken up in subsequent volume of this series.

India had suffered the first attack from Islamic imperialism as early as 634, only two years after the death
of the prophet of Islam at Medina; it was a naval expedition sent to the coast of Maharashtra in reign of

Caliph ^MJmar. This as well as many other expeditions mounted in subsequent years were repulsed from
the coasts of Gujarat and Sindh, and the borders of Makran, Kabul and Zabul; in some of them the invaders
suffered great slaughter and their military commanders were either killed or had to be ransomed out.

It was only in 712 that an Islamic invasion succeeded in occupying Sindh, Multan and some parts of the
Punjab. Though the invaders led several raids into the interior, particularly towards Malwa and Gujarat, the
episodes were shortlived and the invaders were soon locked up in two garrison towns-Multan and
Mansurah-by the Indian counter-at-tacks mounted from Delhi, Kanauj, Rajasthan, Malwa and Gujarat.
Meanwhile, another thrust into Balkh which took place at the same time as that into Sindh resulted in the
destruction of a renowned Buddhist Vihara and the forcible conversion of the Pramukha family, the latter-
day Barkamids of Baghdad.

Zabul (region around Ghazni) had defeated several Muslim invasions since 653 when Seistan became a
base for Islamic armies. It, however, fell in 871 before an assault by the newly founded Saffarid Dynasty of
Persia, and was lost for ever to India as a result of its population being converted en masse to Islam. The
Saffarids were followed by the Samanids of Bukhara; one of their governors occupied Ghazni in 963. It
was from this base that North India was overwhelmed in stages, and passed under Muslim occupation
towards the close of the twelfth century.

In subsequent centuries, Islamic invasions surged forward into Central and South India and established
several centres of Muslim power. More centres of Muslim power arose in North India as well whenever the
Muslim dynasties at Delhi/Agra suffered a decline. The Indian people and princes fought the invaders at
every step and rose in revolt, again and again, for more than five hundred years. Finally, the war of
resistance was transformed into a war of liberation and Islamic dominance disappeared from most parts of
India during the eighteenth century. If British imperialism had not intervened and saved some remnants of
Islamic imperialism, the Muslim invasion of India would have become a story found only in books of

history, and India would have been left with no ^Muslim problem^ as in the case of Spain which also
had been invaded and occupied by Muslims for several centuries.

Muslim Dynasties

The Muslim dynasties which functioned from Sindh and Ghazni undertook destruction of Hindu
temples extensively whenever and wherever they succeeded in raiding or occupying Indian territory. The
same pattern was followed by the Muslim dynasties established at Delhi/Agra. Their hold, however, did not
extend beyond major cities and towns. An /nfensivedestruction of temples was undertaken by the Muslim
dynasties which arose in the provinces-Sindh, Kashmir, Bengal, Avadh, Malwa, Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. There is no truth in the assumption that the provincial dynasties were lenient to
Hindus and their places of worship because they had to depend upon Hindu support against the imperial
dynasties. The truce, if it took place at all, was temporary in most cases.

I. The Caliphate (632-1258)

It was a republican institution created at Medina soon after the death of Prophet Muhammad. The first four
caliphs were elected. The fifth caliph, however, inaugurated monarchical rule which was held successively
by two families. The Caliphate, therefore, had three phases.

(A) The ❖Rightly-Guided^ Caliphs (632-661)

There were four of them who ruled over an expanding empire from Medina and Kufa. Only one of them
figures in our citations:

3. ❖ Usman (646—656)

It was during his reign that one of his military commanders, Abd ar-Rahman bin Samurah, succeeded in
occupying Seistan and parts of Zabul for a short time in 653.

(B) The Ummayads (661-749)

This dynasty, founded by the fifth caliph, had fourteen kings who ruled from Damascus. Only one of them
figures in our citations:

6. Al-Walid I (705-715)

It was during his reign that one of his generals, Muhammad bin Qasim, succeeded in occupying Sindh and
some parts of the Punjab between 712 and 715.

Another general, Qutaibah bin Muslim al-Bahili, operated mostly in Khurasan and Transoxiana which were
cradles of Hindu culture at that time but not parts of India proper. He is also credited with the conquest of
Balkh where he destroyed a famous Buddhist Vihara.

(C) The Abbasids (750-1258)

This dynasty succeeded the Umayyads and moved the seat of the Caliphate to Baghdad. Starting with the
nineteenth caliph it had thirty-seven rulers, the last of whom was killed by Halaku, the Mongol conqueror,

in 1258. After the reign of the eighth caliph, Mu^tasim (833-842), of this dynasty, the rulers were non¬
entities and power passed into the hands of Turkish dynasties which rose one after another. Only two of
them figure in our citations:

2. Al-Mansur (754-775)

It was in his reign that his governor of Sindh, Hasham bin ^Amru al-Taghlabi, led an expedition to
Kandahar on the west coast of India in 756.

3. Al-Mahdi (775-785)

He sent, a naval expedition to the coast of Saurashtra in 776.

II. The Saffarid Dynasty of Seistan (871-900)

This Persian-Turkish dynasty arose when the Abbasid Caliphate had weakened. It occupied Zabul and
Sindh which included Multan at that time. It had only 2 rulers both of whom figure in our citations:

1. Ya^qub bin Laith (871-875)

2. ^Amru bin Laith (875-900)

III. The Qaramitah Dynasty of Multan (980-1175)

After the Saffarids lost their hold on Sindh, Multan separated from the province and became an
independent Muslim kingdom. By 980 it had become a stronghold of the Qaramitah sect of the Isma^ilis.
Jalam bin Shaiban who figures in our citations cannot be placed in any dynastic succession, nor assigned a
reign-period. The only thing we know about him is that he destroyed the image of the famous Aditya
Temple at Multan and killed its priests.

IV. The Yamini or Ghaznivid Dynasty (977-1186)

The Saffarid dominions in Khurasan, Seistan and Zabul had been taken over by the Samanids, a dynasty
which had arisen more or less at the same time as the Saffarids and had its seat at Bukhara. Alptigin, the
Samanid governor of Khurasan, rebelled, occupied Ghazni in 963 and declared independence. The dynasty
founded by him proved incompetent and the throne was seized in 977 by Subuktigin, a manumitted slave of
Alptigin. Subuktigin became the founder of the Ghaznivid Dynasty which came to be known as the Yamini
Dynasty as well when the caliph at Baghdad was mighty pleased with the iconoclastic exploits of

Subuktigin^>s son, Mahmud, and conferred on him the appellation of Yaminu^d-Daulah.

The Yamini Dynasty had 18 rulers, the last two of whom functioned from Lahore after Ghazni was
occupied by the Seljuks. Five of these rulers figure in our citations.

1. Amir Subuktigin (977-997)

2. Sultan Mahmud (997-1030)

5. Sultan Mas^ud I (1030-1042)

11. Sultan Ibrahim (1059-1099)

12. Sultan Mas^ud III (1 099-1151)

V. The Shanshabani or Ghurid Dynasty (1149-1206)

This dynasty arose in the Ghur region of Afghanistan and had its seat at Firuz Koh. To start with, the rulers
were tributaries of the Ghaznivids. They started becoming independent as the Ghaznivids got involved in a

struggle with the Seljuks and suffered a decline. We have counted the Ghurid rulers from Alau^d-Din
Jahansuz who stormed and burnt down Ghazni in 1149. Ghazni was, however, occupied by the Seljuks
soon after and, later on, by the Guzz Turks. It was only in 1175 that the Ghurids succeeded in reoccupying
it.

The Ghurid king, Ghiyasu^d-Din Muhammad bin Sam, who had succeeded his uncle Alau^d-Din
Jahansuz at Firuz Koh, appointed his younger brother, Shihabu^d-Din Muhammad bin Sam, as the

governor of Ghazni. Shihabu^d-Din (1175-1206) occupied Sindh and Multan, ousted the last Ghaznivid
ruler from Lahore, defeated the Chauhans of Ajmer and the GahaDvaDs of Kanauj, and extended his
conquests upto the borders of Bengal. His conquests were consolidated mainly by his able general,

Qutbu^d-Din Aibak. Another general of his, Ikhtiyaru^d-Din Bakhtiyar Khalji, ousted the Senas of
Bengal from Lakhnauti and led an unsuccessful expedition into Assam and Bhutan. Meanwhile,
Shihabu^d-Din had become the king of Ghur on the death of his brother in 1203 and styled himself as

Muizzu^d-Din Muhammad bin Sam. He is popularly known as Muhammad Ghuri, and regarded as the
founder of Muslim rule in India. He was murdered in 1206 and the Shanshabani dynasty came to an end.

Muhammad Ghuri, Qutbu^d-Din Aibak, and Ikhtiyaru^d-Din Bakhtiyar Khalji figure in our citations.

VI. The Khwarizmian Dynasty (1121-1231)

This powerful dynasty had its seat at Khwarizm (modern Khiva in the Turkmenian Republic of the
erstwhile U.S.S.R). It had 6 rulers. It was overthrown by Chingiz Khan, the Mongol conqueror, in 1220

when its fifth ruler died in flight. The sixth and the last ruler, Jalalu^d-Din Mankbarni, who figures in our
citations, escaped to Sindh in 1222 and tried to establish a new kingdom. He had, however, to leave in 1223
via Makran and wandered to various places in Iran and Iraq till he was killed by the Kurds in 1231.

VII. The Mamluk or Slave Dynasties of Delhi (1206-1290)

These were the three dynasties founded successively by Qutbu^d-Din Aibak, Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish
and Ghiyasu^d-Din Balban, all of whom were manumitted slaves. With their seat at Delhi, the three

dynasties had 10 rulers. The founder of the first dynasty, Qutbu^d-Din Aibak, figures in our citations
mostly as a viceroy of Muhanmmad Ghuri, though he ruled as a sultan also from 1206 to 1210. The third
ruler Shamsu^d-Din Iltutmish (1210-1236), the founder of the second Mamluk Dynasty, also figures in

our citations. He was a slave of Qutb^d-Din Aibak and became king after ousting Aibak^s son. He
extended his sway over the whole of North India by garrisoning a number of cities and towns and led
expeditions against centres of Rajput power in Rajasthan, Bundelkhand and Malwa. He is regarded as the
real builder of Muslim power in India, though Afghanistan, Sindh and a large part of the Punjab had,
meanwhile, passed under Mongol occupation.

VIII. The Khalji Dynasty of Delhi (1290-1320)

It succeeded the third and the last Mamluk Dynasty and had only 3 rulers. All of them figure in our
citations:

1. Jalallied-Din (1290-1296)

2. Alau^d-Din (1296-1316)

3. Mubarak Shah (1316-1320)

With his seat at Delhi, Alau^d-Din extended Muslim hegemony or rule over Gujarat, Rajasthan, Malwa,
Maharashtra, Telingana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by subduing or overthrowing one Rajput dynasty after
another. The expedition to Gujarat was led by his brother and general, Ulugh Khan, while those to
Maharashtra, Telingana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were commanded by his slave, Malik Kafur. He
himself was in charge of expeditions to Rajasthan and Malwa.

IX. The Tughlaq Dynasty of Delhi (1320-1412)

This dynasty which took over at Delhi from the Khaljis had 10 rulers, though its power declined steeply
after the death of the third in 1381 and more or less disappeared after the invasion of Timur in 1398. Five
rulers of this dynasty figure in our citations:

1. Ghiyasu^d-Din Tughlaq (1320-1325)

2. Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325-1351)

3. Firuz Shah (1351-1388)

4. Tughlaq Shah bin Firuz Shah (1388-1389)

5. Nasiru^d-Din Muhammad Shah (1389-1394)

Muhammad bin Tughlaq had reconquered South India which had slipped out of the Muslim stranglehold
after the eclipse of the Khaljis. But he lived to see the disintegration of his southern domain. Soon after, the
Muslim Bahmani Sultanate rose in the Deccan and the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in the South.

X. The Shah Mir Dynasty of Kashmir (1339-1561)

Islamic power prevailed in Kashmir because the latter-day Hindu Rajas had employed a large number of
Muslims in their army and administration. Most of these Muslims were refugees sent out by the Mongol
invasion of Islamdom in the thirteenth century, even though some of them strutted around as Sayyids and

Sufis. The founder of the Shah Mir Dynasty had only to stage a coup d &etat. The dynasty had 14 rulers of
whom two figure in our citations:

6. Sikandar Butshikan (1389-1413)

12. Fath Shah (1489-1499 and 1505-1516)

XI. The Bahmani Dynasty of the Deccan (1347-1527)

The founder of this dynasty consolidated a widespread rebellion against Tughlaq rule in the Deccan, and
proclaimed himself a sultan. It had its seat at Gulbarga before it moved to Bidar in 1422. It had 15 rulers.
The last five of them were kings only in name because power at Bidar passed into the hands of the Barid
Shahi Dynasty and elsewhere into those of four other dynasties-the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar, the

^Adil Shahis of Bijapur, the Imad Shahis of Berar and the Qutb Shahis of Golconda-towards the close of
the fifteenth century. Six Bahmani rulers figure in our citations:

1. Alau^d-Din Hasan (1347-1358)

2. Mujahid Shah (1375-1378)

5. Firuz Shah (1379-1422)

6. Ahmad Shah Walt (1422-1435)

7. Alau^d-Din Ahmad Shah II (1436-1458)
10. Muhammad Shah II (1463-1480)

XII. The Muslim Dynasty of Gujarat (1392-1572)

The founder of this dynasty was a Rajput who was converted to Islam in the reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq. It
had 10 rulers before Gujarat was conquered by the Mughals in 1527. Six of them figure in our citations:

1. Muzaffar Shah I (1392-1410)

2. Ahmad Shah I (1411-1443)

4. Qutbu^d-Din Ahmad Shah II (1451-1458)

5. Mahmud BegDha (1458-1511)

6. Muzaffar Shah II (1511-1526)

7. Bahadur Shah (1526-1537)

XIII. The Sharqi Dynasty of Jaunpur (1394-1479)

It was founded by a favourite eunuch of Firuz Shah Tughlaq soon after the latter^s death, and was
overthrown by Bahltil Lodi, the founder of the Lodi Dynasty of Delhi/Agra. One of its 6 rulers figures in
our citations.

4. Mahmud bin Ibrahim (1440-1457).

XIV. The Khalji Dynasty of Malwa (1435-1531)

Malwa had become independent of Delhi under the Ghuri Dynasty founded in 1390. It had 4 rulers when it
was overthrown by the Khalji Dynasty in 1435. The second dynasty also had 4 rulers. Two of them figure
in our citations:

1. Mahmud Shah I (1435-1469)

2. Ghiyasu^d-Din (1469-1500)

XV. Lodi Dynasty of Delhi/Agra (1451-1526)

The Tughlaq Dynasty had been succeeded at Delhi by the Sayyid Dynasty which ruled form 1412 to 1451
It was a weak dynasty and its last ruler invited Bahltil Lodi, his governor of the Punjab, to take over. The
second Lodi ruler shifted the capital from Delhi to Agra in order to be better able to dominate and expand
into Central India. Of the 3 rulers of the Lodi Dynasty two figure in our citations:

2. Sikandar Lodi (1489-1517)

3. Ibrahim Lodi (1517-1526)

XVI. The Nizam Shahi Dynasty of Ahmadnagar (1490-1630)

This dynasty was founded by one of the Bahmani governors who was a Brahmin convert from
Maharashtra. It had 11 rulers till its kingdom was annexed by the Mughals. One of them figures in our
citations:

4. Murtaza Nizam Shah (1565-1588)

XVII. The ❖Adil Shahi Dynasty of Bijapur (1490-1686)

Founded by another of the Bahmani governors, it had 9 rulers till the kingdom was conquered by the
Mughals. One of them figures in our citations:

5. ❖Alt I ^Adil Shah (1557-1580)

XVIII. The Qutb Shahi Dynasty of Golconda (1507-1687)

Founded by a third Bahmani governor, it had 7 rulers till it was overthrown by the Mughals. Four of them
figure in our citations:

1. Quli Qutb Shah (1507-1543)

3. Ibrahim Quth Shah (1550-1580)

4. Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (1580-1612)

6. AbduOllah Qutb Shah (1626-1672)

XIX. The Mughal Dynasty of Agra/Delhi (1526-1857)

Founded by a new Islamic invader, Zahiru^d-Din Babar, this dynasty had 21 rulers. But after 1712 when
its seventh ruler died, the Mughal kings became playthings in the hands of powerful ministers and court
factions. The Dynasty received a shattering blow from the invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739. After the death
of its fourteenth ruler, Muhammad Shah, in 1748, its empire disintegrated very fast. In due course, Mughal
rule became more or less confined to the Red Fort at Delhi where, too, the king lived at the mercy of the
Marathas and, later on, the British. Nine Mughal rulers figure in our citations:

1. Babur (1526-1530)

2. Humayun (1530-1538 and 1556)

3. Akbar (1556-1605)

4. Jahangir (1605-1628)

5. Shah Jahan (1628-1658)

6. Aurangzeb (1658-1707)

7. Bahadur Shah (1707-1712)

11. Farrukh Siyar (1713-1719)

14. Muhammad Shah (1720-1748)

XX. The Sur Dynasty of Agra/Delhi (1540-1556)

This dynasty rose to power by overthing the second Mughal king, Humayun, and was in turn overthrown
by him. It had four rulers, the last one of whom did not belong to the bloodline. Its first two rulers figure in
our citations:

1. Sher Shah (1540-1545)

2. Islam Shah (1545-1554)

XXI. The Karrani Dynasty of Bengal (1563-1576)

This dynasty arose when Sulaiman Karrani, the governor of Bihar from the days of Sher Shah Sur, moved
to Gaur in Bengal after the death of Islam Shah Sur and declared himself an independent king of Bengal,
Bihar and Orissa. Soon after, he moved his capital to Tandah. There were three rulers in this line, of whom
the first, Sulaiman, (1563-1573), figures in our citations.

XXII. The Mughal Subahdars of Bengal (1717-1757)

The Mughal governors of Bengal (which included Bihar and Orissa also) became independent for all
practical purposes after the passing away of Bahadur Shah, the Mughal emperor, in 1712. Murshid Quli

Khan I who had become Subahdar in 1717 nominated his son-in-law, Shujau^d-Din, to succeed him. The
capital of Bengal had meanwhile been moved from Dacca to Murshidabad. Murshid Quli Khan II who
figures in our citations was Shujau^d-Din^s son-in-law and was made the deputy governor in 1728 with
his seat at Dacca. This first line of the independent Subahdars of Bengal was overthrown in 1739 by
Alivardi Khan whose grandson and successor, Siraju^d-Daulah, was defeated by the British in 1757 in the
Battle of Plassey.

XXIII. Abdali or Durrani Dynasty of Afghanistan (1747-1818)

The dynasty arose when, on the death of Nadir Shah the Persian adventurer, one of his generals, Ahmad
Khan Abdali, styled himself as Ahmad Shah Durr-i-Durran (Pearl of the Age) and set up an independent
principality in Afghanistan in 1747. With his seat at Qandhar he led seven invasions into the Punjab and
farther afield. In one of his invasions (1762), he blew up the Harimandir at Amritsar, filled up the sacred
tank with the debris, and desecrated the holy site by slaughtering cows on it. He died in 1773 and figures in
our citations.

XXIV. Muslim Usurpers in Mysore (1761-1799)

There were only two of them, Hyder All (1761-1781) and his son, Tipu Sultan (1782-1799). The second
who died fighting the British in 1799, figures in our citations.

XXV. Sufis or Warrior Saints

Fourteen sufis or warrior saints figure in our citations. The list of this type of iconoclasts should have been
much larger. But we could not get hold of the appropriate histories, most of which are in private
collections. The histories that are printed these days are quite often edited in order to eschew

^►controversial materials^.

Footnotes:

1 The dates given in the descriptions that follow are of the Christian Era.

APPENDIX 2

WAS THE KA^BA A ❖IYA TEMPLE?

Some years ago I read an article proposing that the Ka^ba was a ^iva temple before it was converted into
a mosque by Prophet Muhammad. The article cited a long hymn in Arabic addressed to Mahadeva who,
according to the article, was the presiding deity of the Ka^ba. The hymn, it was stated, had been
composed in the reign of Vikramaditya of Ujjain in the first century BC.

A friend who got interested tried to get the hymn traced to the extant collection of pre-Islamic Arab poetry.
He approached several libraries abroad but drew a blank. He as well as I then dismissed the proposition as
the product of that school of Hindu historians according to whom every building everywhere in the world
was a Hindu monument at one time.

But in the course of the present study I have run into some facts which force me to revise my judgment. I
am not yet prepared to say that the Ka^ba was a ^iva temple. I, however, cannot resist the conclusion
that it was a hallowed place of Hindu pilgrimage. The facts are being placed before the readers for
whatever worth they possess.

Hindu Presence in Arabia

Plenty of archaeological and literary evidence has by now come to light to show that Indian ports on the
coasts of Tamil Nadu, Malabar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Sindh, Baluchistan and Makran had participated
since pre-Harappan times in the rich and vigorous trade carried on between China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri
Lanka and India on the one hand, and Iran, Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt, West Asia and Europe on the other. 1 It
is also known that agricultural, mineral and industrial products from India formed a major part of this trade.
Colonies of Indian merchants existed all along the coasts of countries bordering on the Arabian Sea, the
Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. At the same time, colonies of Arabian, Iranian,

Ethiopian, Egyptian, Syrian and European merchants had come up all along the aforementioned coasts of
India. The Arabs and the Ethiopians had a larger presence as compared to the rest.

Ibn Ishaq provides evidence that Hindu presence in Arabia on the eve of Islam was pretty strong. When
Yemen was invaded by the Abyssinians, Sayf b. Dhu Yazan, a chief of the dominant Himayrite clan of

Arabs, went to Chosroes (Khusru), the king of Iran, for help. ^He said: 4K) King, ravens have taken

possession of our country.^ Chosroes asked, ^►What ravens, Abyssinians or Sindhians?^

^►Abyssianians,^ he replied. ^"Ravens meant blacks, who were identified with Indians and Abyssianans
in the minds of Arabs and Iranians at that time. Later on, a deputation from B. al-Harith waited on the
Prophet. ^When they came to the apostle he asked who the people who looked like Indians were, and he

was told that they were the B. al-Harith b. Ka^b.^ The Prophet, it seems, was quite familiar with
Indians.

In an article, ^ An Image of Wadd: A Pre-Islamic Arabian God^>, Ch. Muhammad Ismail observed:

^The image of Wadd has been described by an Arab commentator as ^the figure of a tall man wearing a
loin-cloth with another cloth over it, with a sword hanging round his neck and also with a bow and quiver:
in front of him a lance, with a flag attached to it. ^ It will be perceived that this does not at all describe the
figure in the Plate attached, which shows a short man wearing a kilt with pleats, like that of a Scottish
Highlander. On the head is a close fitting cap with a long tassel, which seems to represent a long strand of
hair. It may be noted that Beduins, who come to Aden from the Hinterland, while even to this day shaving
the lower parts of the head with a razor, keep a tuft on the crown, and sometimes a long strand of hair like
the badi of the Hindus. From this I once thought that perhaps there existed a connection between the
peoples of Arabia and those of the Indus Valley, and I sent a drawing of this image of Wadd to Sir lohn

Marshall, who wrote in reply as follows: do not think that there is any connection between the kilted

figure (from Arabia) and the Indus people. Kilts were worn at all ages, and this figure I should take to be
some 2,500 years later than those from Mohenjo-daro^; that is to say, he dated it at about 800 BC. ^

Archaeological excavations since the days of Sir lohn Marshall have, however, proved beyond doubt that
there were regular contacts between Arabia and Sindh, even in the days of the Indus valley civilization. As
we have seen, Sindh, Baluchistan, Makran, Fars, Islands in the Persian Gulf, and South Arabia were parts
of the same cultural spread.

The Pagan Arab Pantheon

Prolonged contacts through trade and travel led to rich cultural contacts, particularly because Hindus as
well as Arabs were pagans, and neither of them harboured exclusivism characteristic of prophetic creeds.
We have noted, while dealing with pre-Islamic Gods of Arabia, that some of them were like Hindu Gods.
Students of comparative religion know that the pagan psyche, everywhere and always, has projected many
similar forms and myths in respect of their divinities.

The Sabaeans of South of Arabia in particular were well-known for transacting the richest trade with India.
They had established colonies all along the western coast of India. They were sun-worshippers and had a
famous sun-temple in their area. As we have noted, they believed in transmigration and the cycles of yugas.

But what is most significant, ^The Arabs gave the name Budasp to the mythical founder of the religion of

the SabaeansBudasp was no other than the Bodhisattva.

Coming to idols in Arabia, the worship most widely prevalent was that of Baal against whom the Bible and
the Qur^an hurl many invectives. Commenting on Qur^an 37.123, Abdullah Yusuf Ali writes, ^>Both
Ahab and Azariah were prone to lapse into the worship of Baal, the sun-god worshipped in Syria. That
worship also included the worship of natural powers and procreative powers as in the Indian worship of the

Lingam.^- This is confirmed by W. Roberston Smith in his Religion of the Ancient Semites. He says that
Baal was ^symbolized in conical upright stones much like the liNga of the Hindus^ and represented
^>the male principle of reproduction.^- Hindus present in Arabia could not but view Baal as
the SivaliNga. Several such representations of &i va must have been present among the idols in and around
the Ka^ba, and many more in the Arabian sanctuaries elsewhere.

The Ka^ba

We have noted that the Ka^ba was a pagan temple crowded with idols and that the Islamic lore about its
foundation by Abraham is purefiction. It should not, therefore, sound strange that Hindus present in Arabia
took easily to worship in the Ka^ba. The pagan psyche responds with reverence to all idols, everywhere.
The Muslim historian, Firishta, writes, ^Before the advent of Islam, the Brahmans of India were always

going on pilgrimage to the Ka^ba, for the worship of the idols there. He cites earlier historians as his
authorities on the subject.

It is also significant that Muslims continued to believe for a long time that Lat and Manat, two prominent
pre-Islamic Arab Goddesses, had fled from Arabia when the Prophet tried to destroy them, and taken
refuge in the temple of Somnath. The repeated expeditions which Muslim invaders led in the direction of
this temple were partly inspired by this legend which originated in Arabia. Why a legend about Somnath?
Simply because its famous temple on the coast of Saurashtra was a place of pilgrimage for pagan Arabs, in

the same way as the Ka^ba was for the Hindus. This inference may not sound unwarranted when we view
the fact that Prabhas Patan was one of the principal ports for the Indian trade with Arabia, and had a strong
Arab presence in pre-Islamic times. We have already noted in chapter 3 that Arab presence in this port
continued to be strong even in the post-Islamic period, down to the reign of the Vaghelas.

The Hindu Tradition

The Hindu tradition that the Ka^ba was a ^iva temple was very much alive in the days of Guru Nanak
and is preserved in the Janam Sakhts , particularly the Makke-Madine di Goshati. It has to be investigated
how far back in time the tradition goes. It cannot be said that it was invented by Guru Nanak.

In an article. Guru Nanak Travels in the Middle East, Professor Surinder Singh Kohli writes:

Arabia, the Guru clothed himself like Arabs. He had a staff in his hand, a prayer mat on his shoulder, the
holy book under his arm and a long blue shirt reaching to his feet etc. He looked like a Sufi and everywhere
people considered him to be a tru efaqir. From Jedda, the Guru proceeded towards Mecca on foot. He

reached Mecca late in the evening and fell asleep near Abraham^>s Memorial behind the Kaba. When the
sanitary inspector Jiwan Khan came in the morning, he admonished the Guru for sleeping with his feet
towards the house of God^> The Chief theologians of Islam who were present at Mecca at that time namely
Maulvi Mohammad Hassan, Qazi Rukn Din, Imam Jaffar and Pir Abdul Bahav held discourses with the
Guru regarding spiritual matters. The substance of these discourses was noted by Sayyad Mohammad
Ghaus Salas Faquir in his book in Persian, which was translated into Punjabi by bhai Bhana, according to

Gyani Gyan Singh.

Guru Nanak is reported to have said: Mecca is an ancient place— of pilgrimage, and there is Linga of
Mahadeva here. It was presided over by the BrahmaNas. One of the BrahmaNas, though born among them,
became a Musalman. He subverted the Atharvaveda and renamed it as Furqan. His own name was
Muhammad which means the same as Mahadeva.— He, however, vitiated all other names, so that Hindu
names stood cancelled and Muslim names came into vogue.— He swore by God, but got cows butchered.

All BrahmaNas were forced to fall away from the proper path, though they continued raising cries to Allah.
The Kalima says that God is one, but Muhammad got his own name mixed up with that of God. He sent out
an order to the wide world that all should become Musalmans. Most of those who were men of substance
did not obey the order; but those who were tormented by want rallied round him. He concocted some sort
of a creed, and taught it to them. They joined him for plundering the people; no one joined him with any

other motive.^

There is no evidence as yet that the pre-Islamic Arabs were Hindus, or bore Hindu names, or knew the
Atharvaveda, or were guided by BrahmaNas.— The Janam Sakhi seems to have preserved the Hindu
refugee version of what happened in Arabia after the advent of Islam. It is on record in Muslim histories
that Hindus resident in lands invaded by Islam had to run for their lives. The same thing had happened in
the Roman Empire after it was taken over by Christianity.

The common people everywhere are prone to interpret events in the language of their own culture. It may
be that by the time the story reached Guru Nanak, or perhaps much earlier, the Ka^ba had become a ^iva
temple in the eyes of Hindus, and the principal idol there a &ivalinga. The pagan priests who presided in
the Ka^ba became BrahmaNas, and the Qur^an a perversion of the Atharvaveda. What is quite obvious

is that the Hindus, resident or present, in Arabia did not relish the revolution that had upturned Arabians
ancient religion, and imposed a new belief-system by means of brute force. The image of the Prophet and
his followers formed by Hindus at that time was more than confirmed by their subsequent experience of
Islam in their own homeland. They had no reason to revise the story which has persisted till today, in spite

of the herculean efforts made by a whole state apparatus to proclaim the Prophet as ^a great religious

teacher^, and to whitewash Islam into ^a noble faithIn any case, the subject needs serious
investigation by scholars in the field.

Footnotes:

1 Shaikha Haya Ali A1 Khalifa and Michael Rice (ed.), Bahrain through the ages, the
Archaeology, London, 1986, pp. 73-75, 94-107, 376-82; Andre Wink, Al-Hind: The Making of the

Indo-Islamic World, Vol. I, OUP, 1990, Chapters II and III; Lokesh Chandra et. al. (ed.), India
Contribution to World Thought and Culture: A Vivekananda Commemoration Volume, Madras,
1970, pp. 579-88; Muhammad Abdul Nayeem, Prehistory and Protohistory of the Arabian
Peninsula, Vol. I, Saudi Arabia, Hyderabad (India), 1990. pp. 160-69.

- Sirat Rasul Allah, op. cit., p. 30.

- Ibid., p. 646. Tdrikh-i-Tabari, op. cit, p. 46, report the Prophet as saying, f>Yeli to Hindustani
ma &lum hole haih. &

- Indian Antiquary, Vol. LVIII (May, 1929), pp. 91-92.

- First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit, Vol. II, p. 770.

- The Meaning of the Glorious Qitr&dn, Text, Translation and Commentary, Cairo, Third Edition,
1983. Vol. H, p. 1203, Footnote 4112.

- Summarised by Will Durant, op. cit., p. 309.

- Tarikh-i-Firishta translated into Urdu, Nawal Kishore Press, Lucknow, 1933, Vol. II, p. 498
corresponding to p. 311 of the Persian text. The sentence in Urdu reads, ^Aur Brahman
Hindustan ke qibl zahur Islam khana-i-Ka &ba ki ziydrat aur wahah ke butoh ki prastish ke waste

hameshah dmdo-shud karte the. o See 'dhoTarikh-i-Firishta, translated into Urdu by Abd Illahi
Khwaja, 1983, Vol. II, p. 885, and John Briggs, op. cit., Vol. IV, p. 234. He observes in a

footnote, ^The subject is full of interest, opens an extensive field of investigation for the Oriental
antiquary, as leading to the development of the history of a period at which India and Egypt were
closely connected

- Lokesh Chandra et. al. (ed.), op. cit., p. 598.

— Makke-Madme di Goshati, edited by Dr. Kulwant Singh, Panjabi University, Patiala, 1988, p.

49.

— By ^BrahmaNas^ Guru Nanak means the priestly class, al-Hums among the pagan Quraysh.
Furqan, of course, is the Qur^an. The word ^ Muhammad^ in Arabic means ^Hie who is
prayed to^U

— It is on record that the Prophet changed all personal names which referred to ancient Gods and
Goddesses of Arabia, and substituted them with Jewish names. The practice continues till today in
all conversions to Islam.

— Translated from a Hindi version of Makke-Madine di Goshati, op. cit, p. 188.

— Though the al-Hums who looked after the Ka^ba in the pre-Islamic period resembled the BrahmaNas in
many respects (First Encyclopaedia of Islam, op. cit, Vol. III. p. 335).

MEANING OF THE WORD ❖HINDUS

In the present study we have used the expression ^Hindu temples^ to cover Brahmanical as well as
Buddhist Jain, and Sikh temples. This sounds contrary to current usage in the world of scholarship as well
as politics. But the history of the word ^Hindu^ supports our case. It was only in the nineteenth century
that Western Indologists and Christian missionaries separated the Buddhists, the Jains, and the Sikhs from
the Hindus who, in their turn, were defined as only those subscribing to Brahmanical sects. The
missionaries invented another category, the Animists, which they employed in order to separate the tribals
from the Hindus of their definition. It will, therefore, be worthwhile to survey the history of the word

^>Hindu^>, and see what it has meant, at what stage, and to whom.

A close study of literary and epigraphic sources shows that the word ^Hindu^ has appeared in our
indigenous languages and popular parlance in a comparatively recent period, keeping in view the long span
of our history. We do not find this word in any indigenous language prior to the establishment of Islamic
rule in the thirteenth century. Even after that, the word was used rather sparsely in the local literature.
Monier-Williams who compiled his famous dictionary from a large range of Sanskrit literature, could not

find any indigenous root for this word. He says explicitly that the word is derived ^from the Persian

H indu^U Dictionaries of all indigenous languages say the same. So also the dictionaries of European
languages.

The word Hinduism^ has been added to our vocabulary at a still more recent stage. It has been contributed
by the discipline of Indology in die modern West. And the word gained wide currency in this country
simply because the leaders of our national reawakening in the second half of the nineteenth century,
espoused it as expressive of our national identity as well as our spiritual and cultural greatness. These

leaders, down to Mahatma Gandhi, were not prepared to concede that Hinduism did not include Buddhism,
or Jainism, or, for that matter, Sikhism.

Of course, some scholars of Hindutva have tried to trace the word ^Hindu^ to Saptasindhu which is
mentioned in the Rigveda on several occasions. They want this word to have an indigenous as well as an
ancient ring. The intention is understandable. But the excercise has remained forced, if nor far-fetched.
Firstly, it does not notice that the expression used in the Rigveda is not Saptasindhu but Saptasaindhvah.
Secondly, it ignores the fact that the Rigveda is not quite clear whether the expression stands for a country,
or for a people, or simply for seven rivers in the Punjab. The expression seems to mean different things in

different contexts. Thirdly, it does not explain why the change from ^Sindhtr^ to ^>Hindu^> took such a
long time to surface in our indigenous languages. Lastly, and more significantly, it has not taken into
account the fact that our countrymen were never known as Hindus in Southeast Asia in the pre-Islamic
period, although they had a large presence there since centuries before the birth of Christ.

Going back to the pre-Islamic period in our own country, we find that our ancestors shared in common a
name for their homeland. That was Bharatavar&a, which comprised at that time the present-day Seistan,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. They also shared in common a name for the spiritual-
cultural complex to which they subscribed. That was Sanatana Dharma, which covered Brahmanism,
Buddhism, Jainism, and also what is now known as Animism or tribal religion. But there is no evidence,
literary or epigraphic, that they shared in common a name for themselves as a people. Some PuraNas say

that Bharatavar^a is the land of the bharati santatih. The expression, however, is found nowhere else in
the vast literature which has come to us from those times. In any case, this much is quite certain that our
ancestors in those times did not use the word ^ Hindu ^ for describing themselves collectively. Hiuen
Tsang who visited this country between AD 630 and 645 says that while the word ^Shin-tu^ (Chine-se
for ^Hindtr^) could be heard outside our borders, it was unknown within the country.

Nor do we have a record of how our people identified themselves when they travelled abroad. It is not at all
in doubt that they travelled a lot, and all the time. They were frequent visitors to far-off places in all
directions, by land as well as sea. They went out individually as well as in groups. They adventured as
sailors, as merchants, as princes, as monks, as priests, as scholars, as craftsmen, and in several other
capacities. They had established many flourishing settlements in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand,
the Pacific Islands, and Central and South America towards the east, and in Iran, West Asia, East and North
Africa, and Europe towards the west. Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan were as familiar to them as
their own homeland. But the literature which describes their voyages, or the epigraphs which testify to their
presence abroad, do not yield any generic or national name by which they were known or made themselves
known to the local people in foreign countries.

There is, therefore, no running away from the fact that the word ^Hindu^ occurs for the first time in the
Avesta of the ancient Iranians who used this word for designating this country as well as its people. They
did not have to coin this word out of thin air. It was simply their way of pronouncing the word ^Sindhu^,
the name of the mighty river which has always been a major landmark for travellers to this country from
the north and the west. To start with, the word seems to have been used for provinces and the people in the
vicinity of the Sindhu. But in due course, it was extended to cover all parts of this country and all its
people. The word also spread to countries to the north and west of Iran. The ancient Greeks were quite

familiar with the words ^Indus^ and ^Indoi^ - their way of pronouncing ^Sindhuand ^Sindhis^.
The ancient Arabs, Turks (^akas, KuSaNas, etc.), Mongolian (HuNas, Kiratas, etc.) and the Chinese were
also familiar with the word, sometimes in their own variations on it such as ^►Shin-tu^. It may thus be
said that the word ^Hindu^ had acquired a national connotation, since the days of the Avesta, although in

the eyes of only the foreigners. At the same time, it may be noted that the word was oblivious of the fact
that ^Hindus^ were organized in numerous castes, and subscribed to many religious sects.

There is also evidence that at some stage in their history the ancient Iranians started using the word
^►Hindu^ in more than a purely descriptive sense. The word seems to have acquired for them a
derogatory meaning as well. Scholars are not quite certain, nor in complete agreement, about the nature of
differences that developed between the Vedics of this country and the Avestans of Iran. The two people had
had much in common, and for a long time, in the realm of language, religion, rituals, and ethical norms. It
is surmised that the rift appeared with the rise of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) as a religious reformer in the
region round Bahlika (Balkh), and became bitter by the time the Archaeminid Dynasty rose to power in
Iran. Zorastrianism became the state religion of Iran, and the Iranians started looking down upon the

Hindus as worshippers of &dev & (Skt. deva), their word for demon. They were using the
word &Ahura (Skt. Asura) for their own Deity.

The Iranians are known to have become more hostile to the Hindus as Buddhism spread in Khorasan and
Central Asia, and the temples dedicated to dev were overshadowed by those dedicated

to &budd & or 4Abut & - their name for the Buddha statues. By the time the Ishmized Arabs appeared on
the scene, the ^black-faced Hindu ^ had become known to the Iranians as the but-prast (worshipper of
the budd or but ) par excellence. In fact, the word ^>Hindu^> had become synonymous with the

word but-prast & in the Persian language which had developed out of ancient Pehlevi. Every Hindu
place of worship was now being described as well despised as a but-khana, house of budd. There were
several other pejoratives which went with the word Hinduin Persian parlance. They have lived in

Persian lexicons down to our own times. What is relevant in the present context is that the word ^Hindu^
had acquired a religious connotation also prior to the Islamic invasions, although in the language of only
the Iranians. It may be noted again that the Iranians were oblivious of the fact that the worshippers
of dev and but were divided in many religious denominations.

II

Of course, the Arab soldiers of Allah and his Prophet did not have to depend on the Iranians for defining
the Hindu as an idolater. They had their own patent word, &mushrik&, which the Qur^an had applied to
the idolaters of Arabia. They also continued to use their own word in serious works on history and
theology. But as the Islamized Arabs and Turks came to borrow heavily from Persian language and culture,

they picked up the word ^but-prast and used it more and more frequently for the hated Hindu. In due
course, this word came to predominate in the Islamic parlance vis-a-vis the people of this country. And
what must have sounded painfully surprising as well as supremely profane to Iranian ears, the Muslims

started using the word &dtish-prast & (fire-worshipper) also for the worshippers of the dev and the but.
Thus the Hindu stood defined and despised as the ^crow-faced kafir, the ^wicked mushrik the
^blind but-prast and the ^accussed dtish-prast in the lexicons of Islam.

The story of how the armies of Islam advanced in different stages in different parts of this country, and
what they did to the Hindus and their places of worship, has been documented in detail by many medieval
Muslim chroniclers. They tell us that the soldiers of Allah were rather fast in reaching for their swords and

spears whenever and wherever they heard the word &hudd & or &hut Buddhist temples, monasteries,
and monks thus became their prime targets, as is witnessed by the Buddhist ruins and Muslim monuments
built with Buddhist temple materials, all along the trail of Islamic invasions. The pertinent point in the

present context, however, is that nowhere in the voluminous Muslim chronicles do we find the natives of
this country known by a name other than Hindu. There were some Jews, and Christians, and Zoroastrians
settled here and there, particularly along the West Coast. More people belonging to these communities
continued to come from time to time throughout the period covered by the Muslim chronicles. We find that
people belonging to these communities are always identified as such - ahl-i-Yahud or Band Israil, ahl-i-
NaSdra or Isai, and cihl-i-Majus or Atish-prast. The chronicles distinguish these communities from the
Muslims on the one hand, and from the natives of this country on the other. It is only when they come to
the natives that no more distinctions are noticed; all natives are identified asahl-i-Hunud-Hmdu\

We know from numerous indigenous sources that at the time the Islamic invaders appeared on the scene,
the natives of this country subscribed to numerous ways of worship. They knew and made themselves
known as belonging to this or that religious sect or sub-sect. But the Muslim chronicles notice no

Buddhists, no Jains, no ^aivites, no ^aktas, no VaiSNavas, nor members of any other sect or sub-sect-
neither at the beginning of Islamic conquests, nor during the period of Muslim rule, nor yet when Muslim
domination draws towards its end. In all their narratives, all natives are attacked as Hindus, massacred as
Hindus, plundered as Hindus, converted forcibly as Hindus, captured and sold in slave markets as Hindus,
and subjected to all sorts of malice and molestation as Hindus.

The Muslims never came to know, nor cared to know, as to which temple housed what idol. For them all
temples were Hindu but-khdnas , to be desecrated or destroyed as such. They never bothered to distinguish
the idol of one God or Goddess from that of another. All idols were broken or burnt by them as so
many buts, or deposited in the royal treasury if made of precious metals, or strewn at the door-steps of the
mosques if fashion from inferior stuff. In like manner, all priests and monks, no matter to what school or

order they belonged, were for the Muslims so many ^wicked Brahmans^ to be slaughtered or molested

as such. In short, the word ^Hindu^ acquired a religious connotation for the first time within the frontiers
of this country. The credit for this turn-out goes to the Muslim conquerors. With the coming of Islam to this
country all schools and sects of Sanatana Dharma acquired a common denominator - Hindu!

We also know that at the time of Islamic invasions, the natives of this country stood organised in an
hierarchy of many classes, castes, and sub-castes. But the invaders noticed no KSatriyas, no Vai^yas, no

Madras, nor any other class or caste distinctions. The only people they singled out for special mention were
the Brahmans. But it was not because they knew or recognized them as a distinct caste; it was simply
because the Brahmans were for them the inline of kufr (infidelism) and .v/z/rAfidolatry)^, the
^►misleaders of mankind^, the ^greatest enemies of Allah and his Prophet^, and the ^magicians who

ensured that Hindus burn for ever in the blazing fire of hell ^. Nor did the Muslims distinguish between
high-caste and low-caste kafirs while killing them, or converting them by force, or plundering their
properties, or capturing them as well as their women and children for enslavement, or reducing them to the
status of zimmis for imposing harsh disabilities and discriminatory taxes on them. In Muslim eyes, all
natives constituted an undifferentiated society, a solid mass in which no constituent was distinct from

another. Once again, it goes to the credit of the Muslim conquerors that the word ^Hindu^ acquired a
national connotation within the borders of this country. The only natives who stood out of the ken were
those who had converted to Islam, willingly or unwillingly.

The next thing that happened during the period of Muslim conquest and rule, was far more significant and
fraught with far-reaching consequences. I am not in a position to determine more precisely the period

during which the natives of this country espoused the word ^Hindu^ for themselves, and invested it with
pride; that needs a study of contemporary Indian literature which I have not undertaken. All I can say at
present is that by the time the Islamic sword swept over the South, and the Vijayanagara Empire took

shape, the word ^ Hindu ^ was no more a hated word for the natives as it was for the foreign invaders.

A Kanarese inscription discovered in the Fort of Penugonda (now in Andhra Pradesh) and dated in *aka

saMvat 1276 (AD 1354) describes Bukka I of Vijayanagars as hinduraya-suratraNa purva-pa &chima-
samudradhipati , that is, the Sultan among the Hindu kings, and lord of the eastern and western seas.- Next,
we have the Satyamangalam (North Arcot District, Tamil Nadu) Copper Plate inscription of Devaraya II

dated *aka saMvat 1346 (AD 1424) in which verse 8 says that *Through the wind ( which was produced)
by the flapping of the ears of the elephants on the field of battle, the Tulushka (ie Musalman) horsemen
experienced the fate of cotton (ie were blown away) *. Then follows the verse which applauds the king as

*the Sultan among the Hindu kings as described by the bards*.= Two more inscriptions of Devaraya,
dated AD 1427 and 1428, award him the same honorific.- The fact that bards were using the word
* Hindu* as a word of praise, leaves little doubt that the word was pulsating with great pride. A Jain
inscription found at Sadri in Jodhpur District of Rajasthan, and dated Vikrama saMvat 1496 (AD 1441) is
still more specific. It says that KumbhakarNa of Mewar *received the title HiMdu-suratrdNa by defeating
the (Muslim) Sultans of Dhilli and Gurjaratra*.

Some more inscriptions are worth citing in this context. They are being taken up in a chronological order.
The Somalpuram Grant of Vijayanagara king VirupakSa dated *aka saMvat 1389 (AD 1467). It describes
the king (*in the glowing fire of whose valour, the Turushkas were scorched up*) as *elevated by the
titles such as hinduraya-suratraNa *.- In the Hempe inscription of Krishnadevaraya, dated *aka saMvat

1430 (AD 1508), the hinduraya-suratraNa is described as *the destroyer of rogue tigers*.- The hint is
more than clear: rogue tigers are the Muslim invaders. The same description of him is found in
his Udayambakam Grant dated *aka saMvat 1450 (AD 1528)- two years before he died. In an inscription
found at the holy city of Gaya in Bihar, the Vijayanagara king Acyutadevaraya is eulogised
as * hinduraya-suratraNa , the firm establisher of the Hindu kingdom*.- His Unamanjeri Plate issued in
*aka saMvat 1462 (AD 1540) calls him not only hinduraya-suratraNabvX also induvaM *«-
4hkhamaNi (the jewel in the crown of the lunar dynasty).- The same applause is reserved for
Sada*ivaraya in his Kanuma Grant dated *aka saMvat 1470 (AD 1548), and the British Museum Plates
dated *aka saMvat 1478 (AD 1556).-

Thus by the middle of the fourteenth century, the word *Hindu* had dropped the derogatory associations
imposed on it by the ancient Iranians and the Islamic invaders, and acquired a lot of lustre in the eyes of our
own countrymen. Native heroes such as MaharaNa Kumbha, and Krishnadevaraya, who defeated the
Islamic onslaught, were hailed as Hindu heroes in subsequent centuries. Padmanabha uses the word

*Hindu* for glorification of the Chauhan harm of Jalor in his epic poem, KdnhaDade Prabandha, which
he composed in AD 1455. It will not be long before MaharaNa Pratapa SiMha of Mewar becomes
renowned as hindu-kula-kamala-divakara, the Sun which brings bloom to the lotus that is the Hindu nation.
Chhatrapati Shivaji, who turned back the tide of Islamic invasion and inaugurated the war of liberation

from Islamic imperialism, will be hailed all over Bharatavar*a as the saviour of Hindu Dharma and

protector of its significant symbols - gaubrahmaNa, * iklia-sutra , devamurti-devalaya, and so on. So also
Guru Gobind Singh, and Maharaja Chhatrasal.

And the word *Hindu* stood sanctified when Sanatan Dharma became known as Hindu Dharma.
Numerous saint-poets arose in all parts of Bharatavar*a, sang hymns in praise of Hindu Dharma, and

reminded their co-religionists that they were inheritors of a great and vast spiritual vision. The I aw of
Islam threatened death to those who said that a religion other than Islam could also be true. But that did not
deter Sant Kabir and Guru Nanak from proclaiming that Hindu Dharma was as good as any other. Guru

Teg Bahadur defied the ^>law^ of Islam at the very seat of its might, and offered his head in defence of
his tilaka (religious mark on the forehead) and janeu (sacred thread).

Ill

Islamic imperialism had inflicted deep wounds on Hindu religion, culture, society, polity, economy, and
environment. The wounds needed time to heel. All the same, Hindus had survived the Islamic onslaught,

and come out of it with renewed pride in their spiritual and cultural traditions. The word ^Hindu^ had
become an honoured word, and denoted, nationally as well as religiously, the natives of this country as a
whole except those who had been forced or lured into the fold of Islam.

The gravest injury which Hindus had suffered at the hands of Islam was the destruction of their temples and
monasteries, and the slaughter of BrahmaNas and Buddhist monks. Temples and monasteries were not
mere places of worship and meditation; they were seats of higher learning as well. BrahmaNas and
Buddhist monks were not only priests and spiritual practitioners; they were also leaders of larger Hindu
thought. Thus Hindus had been hit in the solar plexus. They were still capable of marshalling plenty of
heroism ( kSatra ); but their capacity for a broader vision ( brahmaNya) had suffered a steep decline. Even
so, Islamic imperialism had failed to disarm the Hindus ideologically.

Islam has been, and remains till today, not much more than a system of glorified terrorism in spite of all its
tom-tom about Allah and the Book from high heaven. The only way it has ever known, either of breaking
resistance to its onward march or of imposing its own cock-and-bull stories on a conquered people, has
been that of brute force. It has never learnt the art of legitimizing itself in the eyes of the conquered people
by selling to them some high-sounding scholarship. In fact, its own stock of ideas has remained less than
limited, and its scholarship has been sterile and hide-bound. Nor has it ever tried to understand how other
societies and cultures function and flourish. Forcible conversion is the only method it has known for pulling
the conquered people out of their cultural moorings. In this country, it had remained incapable of searching
for the sources of Hindu inspiration, or acquiring any worthwhile knowledge of how Hindu Society and
culture had functioned down the ages. It could never earn even a semblance of legitimacy in the eyes of
Hindus at large, or shake any significant section of Hindus out of their ancestral moorings.

It is difficult to say how Hindus would have fared if a new imperialism from the West had not arrived on
the scene at the very time when Islamic imperialism was on its last legs. The new imperialism had three
faces - Christian, British, and Communist. It was far more competent than Islamic imperialism in terms of
both means and methods. But the deadliest weapon it wielded was a new type of scholarship which it used
in progressive stages for disarming the Hindus ideologically.

This scholarship was a many-splendoured mansion - Anthropology, Sociology, Historiography, Linguistics,
Comparative Religion, Indology, German Idealism, French Positivism, British Utilitarianism, Soviet
Marxism-Leninism, and the rest. It had some fascinating facets. Its essential theme, however, was only a
variation on the Christian missionary lore in as much as it believed and had proved to its own satisfaction

that the white maiv^s world was the centre of the universe, that the white matins civilization was the
highest achievement in human history, and that the white man had to shoulder the heavy burden of
civilizing the rest of mankind which was seen as wallowing in varying stages of barbarism. But simply
because this scholarship had surfaced in the same area and at the same time as Modern Science, it had
come to pretend that it also shared the scientific spirit. Marxism-Leninism was the culmination of this
masquerade.

This is not the occasion to go into details of how the latter-day imperialism mobilized this scholarship for
mounting an unprecedented assault on the Hindu intellectual elite. What we are concerned with in the
present context is the portrait of Hindus and Hinduism which this scholarship proceeded to paint. The
salient features of the portrait which emerged at the end of the operation were as follows:

1. The old and the most sacred scripture of the Hindus, the Rigveda, provides impeccable evidence that a
race of blood-thirsty barbarians, who worshipped equally blood-thirsty gods and who styled themselves as
Aryans, invaded this country in the second millenium BC, slaughtered or enslaved all those natives who
could not escape to the far South or forests and mountain fastnesses in the North, and settled down to live
on the fat of this fertile land for all time to come.

2. With a view to perpetuate their stranglehold on the country and its native people, the Aryans created a
caste system in which they themselves constituted the higher castes - BrahmaNas, KSatriyas, and

Vai^yas- while they reduced the conquered populace to the status of ^udras and outcaste untouchables.

3. At the same time, the Aryans concoted a priestcraft, presided over by the wily Brahmins and couched in
the complex Sanskrit literature, in order to legitimize and safeguard the caste system.

4. Whatever veneer of culture the Aryans managed to acquire, was borrowed by them from the native
people whom the Sanskrit literature had shamelessly described as Dasas, Dasyus, Asuras, Nagas, RakSasas,
and the rest.

5. That veneer of culture also took no time to come off when, at a subsequent stage, the custodians of
Brahminism destroyed the shrines and slaughtered the saints of Buddhism and Jainism, simply because
these rationalist and humanitarian religions questioned the iniquities and cruelties of the caste system and
pleaded for a just and equalitarian social order.

6. But as the peopled protest against the primitive superstitions, the puerile priestcraft, and the cruel caste
system of Brahminism continued to grow, Brahminism disguised itself in a number of new-sounding cults-
^►aivism, ^aktism, VaiSNavism, etc.-and concocted a new series of Sanskrit literature - the PuraNas and

the Dharma^astras - in order to hoodwink the people and ensure the continuity of the caste system, with
the crafty Brahmins sitting at its top and cornering unequal privileges as well as rich profits.

7. Thus the essence of Brahminism alias Hinduism has been, and remains, the economically exploitative,
socially oppressive, and culturally moribund caste system, no matter how many heaven-tearing
philosophies it stocks in its shop in order to hide the fraud.

8. Hinduism alias Brahminism has continued, and will continue, to suppress, or sidetrack, or subvert by
means of its sly syncretism, every single idea, religious or secular, which threatens the caste system and the
domination of the deceitful Brahmins.

9. Speaking scientifically and in a historical perspecti ve,Hindus proper are only the high castes in the
present-day ^Hindu society^, and describing the rest of the people as Hindus is a dirty swindle.

10. Hindus alias the high caste descendants of the Aryan invaders have joined, and will continue to join,
hands with any and every reactionary ideology and force - feudalism, capitalism, colonialism, American
imperialism, etc. - in order to safeguared the caste system and its own stranglehold on the toiling masses of
India.

We have presented in simple and straight language the lore which Christian, British and Communist
imperialists came to sell with varying degrees of sophistication, in a large number of tomes, treatises, and

articles in learned journals published by prestigious publishing houses such as the Oxford University Press.
In any case, by now the so-called Dalit Movement is retailing this lore in the way we have summarized it,
without being questioned by any of its highbrow hawkers.

The word ^Hindu^ was thus not only robbed of all the pride and prestige it had acquired over the past
several centuries, but also made synonymous with foreign invaders who had committed no end to crimes
against the native people. The word no more designated the vast majority of this country's population; on
the contrary, it became the hallmark of a small minority which had conspired to masquerade as the
majority. The Buddhists, the Jains, the Sikhs, and the Animists (new name for those subscribing to tribal

religions) were taken out of the fold of Hinduism at one fell sweep. Finally, the ^Dravidian Souths was

given a call to revolt against everything associated with the word ^Hindu^ - religion, culture, language,
etc.

This was the lore which was taught in school and college textbooks of an educational system which had
been designed and was being controlled by the British establishment and the Christian missions. This was
the lore which was given the pride of place in Communist pamphlets and periodicals which started to

proliferate from the ^twenties of this century onwards. And this was the lore by mouthing which a section
in the Indian National Congress started strutting around as ^progressive^, ^radical

^revolutionary^, "socialist", and the rest. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru became the leader of this section after
a brief visit to the Soviet Union in 1927. And he started fancying himself as a great historian when
his Glimpses of World History and Discovery of India, which revelled in this lore, were hailed as classics
by the prestigious press in this country and abroad.

Meanwhile, Muslim historians of the Marxist schools had polished up a subsidiary thesis. Their main
purpose was to salvage Islam from its blood-soaked history, and present the medieval Muslim rule in India
as a native dispensation. Mohammad Habib of the Aligarh Muslim University came out with the thesis that
the Islamic invaders had destroyed Hindu temples not in obedience to the tenets of Islam but out of their
lust for loot. This thesis was lapped up immediately by Pandit Nehru and his progressive host in the
Congress. Pandit Sunderlal picked up the hint and painted Islam and the medieval Muslim rule in glorious
colours. The finishing touches were given by M.N. Roy who propounded that Islam had come to India for
completing the social revolution which Buddhism had started but failed to accomplish because Brahminism
had responded with fire and sword.

But the word ^Hindu^> had not yet become a dirty word. It still covered the Buddhists, the Jains, and the
Sikhs except for some separatist fringes which had imbibed the monothestic theology of the Muslim-
Christian combine or the Leftist lore. Stalwarts of Hindu re-awakening - Swami Dayananda, Bankim
Chandra, Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo - had seen through the Christian and the British game and given a

strong lead which had not yet been exhausted. Mahatma Gandhi was still alive and was saying that ^if
Brahmanism does not revive, Hinduism must perish^, that the caste system had provided strength to
Hindu society dining difficult times, and that will not like to live in an India which has ceased to be
Hindu O.

IV

The word ^Hindu^ started being brought into contempt on some scale in the truncated Hindu homeland
with the rise of Pandit Nehru to supreme power in the post-independence period. He was a combined
spokesman of all imperialist ideologies which had visited this country in the past - Islamic, Christian,

British, and Communist. Small wonder that he placed the Ministry of Education in the hands of a Muslim-
Marxist combine headed by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Christian missions were given full facilities to
educate the Hindus, and convert as many of them as they could manage. The missionary apparatus started
building itself anew, after a period of panic experienced by it when the British Raj was drawing to its end.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Habib had come out with another thesis (1954), namely, that the so-called Muslim

conquest of India was really a ^>turn of public opinion^ or an Durban revolution^ in which the Indian

^working class^> had preferred the shariat in place of the smiriti, and the Turks in place of the Thukuris.
Nehru approved the thesis in a Preface. At the same time, he patronized the Communist Party of India, so
that it very soon became a formidable force. All this was being done by him in the name of Secularism,
which concept he had picked up from the modern West and perverted to mean the opposite of what it meant
there.

Nehru^s daughter, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, carried her father^s game much farther. In her fight for a
monopoly of power, she split the Congress Party, and made a common cause with the Communists. Well-
known Communists and fellow-travellers were given positions of power in the ruling Congress Party, in the
Government at the Centre as well in the States, and in prestigious institutions all over the country. The

Muslim-Marxist combine of ^historians'^ had already captured the Indian History Congress during the
days of Pandit Nehru, and many honest historians had been hounded out of it. Now this combine was
placed in control of the Indian Council of Historical Research and entrusted with extensive patronage. The
combine took over the National Council of Educational Research and Training also, and laid down the
guidelines for producing school textbooks on various subjects. The Jawaharlal Nehru University was
created and financed on a fabulous scale in order to collect Communist professors from all over the
country, and form them into a frontline brigade for launching all sorts of anti-Hindu campaigns.

The smokescreen for this Stalinist operation was provided by the slogan of Secularism which nobody was
supposed to question, or examine as to what it had come to mean. Its meaning had to be accepted ex¬
cathedra, and as laid down by the Muslim-Marxist combine. In the new political parlance that emerged,

Hinduism and the nationalism it inspired, became blackned as ^►Communalism^. Small wonder that the

word ^ Hindu ^ started becoming a dirty word in the academia as well as the media. The Sikhs had
already opted out of the Hindu fold. The Jains started saying more and more loudly that they were not
Hindus. The climax came when the Ramakrishna Mission and the Arya Samaj petitioned the High Courts
for obtaining the status of non-Hindu religions. An article in the Constitution which gave certain
concessions to non-Hindu educational institutions was being cited in defence of this volte-face. But that
was only an excuse. The real reason was that nobody who thought he was somebody was prepared to be
known as a Hindu any more.

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh had been launched by some Hindus who were already shying away from the
word ^ Hindu and opting for the word ^BharatiyaIt was taken over in due course by a pompous
Nehruvian, and whoever objected to the coup was hounded out, or silenced. The party was now trying
frantically to prove its Secular credentials. It was mortally afraid of being called a Hindu party, and
frequently displayed its Muslim membership. Its tragedy was that the authentic Secularists were not
prepared to accept its claims, although it had invited every stalwart of Secularism to use its platforms for
delivering lectures on the sanctified subject. Again, the climax came when, under pressure from the newly-
formed Janata Party of which the Bharatiya Jana Sangh had became a constituent, the Rashtriya

Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) also got ready to consider dropping of the word ^Hindtr^ from its
constitution. One wonders how things would have turned out if the Janata Party government had not fallen
before the critical session of the RSS could be held. In any case, leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the
reincarnation of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, could be heard saying till recently that they could no more
afford to be known as Hindus (ab apne dpko Hindu kahne se kam nahtn chalegd)\

That is the history of the word ^Hindu^, down to our own times. In the present work we have
disregarded that part of its history which tells how imperialist ideologies have manipulated its meaning, and
retained that part which tells how it came to signify everything dust is native and natural to this country -
the people, the social fabric, the cultural complex, and the vast spiritual vision. So far as honest historians

are concerned, the word ^Hindu^ has covered, and continues to cover, all religions which took birth in

this country, and the expression ^Hindu temples^ stands for temples where people subscribing to these
indigenous religions worship.

Footnotes:

- Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VI (1900-01), p. 327, footnote 2. A pun on the Muslim title ^sultan^
can also be detected. The word has been Sanskritized to ^suratraNa^ which may mean
^defender of the Gods^ as well as ^defended by the Gods^U

2 Ibid., Vol. Ill (1894-95), p. 40.

2 Ibid., Vol. XIII (1915-16), p. 5, and Vol. XVII (1923-24), p. 111.

- Appendix volume to Vols. XIX-XXIII, pp. 109-10.

2 Ibid., Vol. XVII (1920-21), p. 203.

-Ibid., Vol. I (1892), p. 365.

1 Ibid., Vol. XIV (1917-18), p. 173.

- Ibid., Vol. XXXIII (1959-60), pp. 114-15.

9 Ibid., Vol. Ill (1894-95), p. 148.

- Ibid., Vol. XIV (1917-18), p. 345. and Vol. IV (1896-97), p. 2.

APPENDIX 4

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE MARXIST PROFESSORS

We return to the Marxist professors with whom we started.

We have cited from eighty histories written by Muslims over a period of more than one thousand years. We
have also cited several Islamic inscriptions which confirm what the historians say. The citations show how
Hindu temples continued to be destroyed over a vast area and for a long time. We have added no

^editorial comments^ and given no ^communal twist^ to the events that took place. All along, we
have kept to the actual language used by the Muslim historians.

We wonder if the professors will dismiss as mere listing of dates ^ the evidence we have presented.
What we expect from the professors is that they will come forward with ^historical analysis and

interpretations^ so that the destruction of Hindu temples mentioned in the Muslim narratives gets
explained in terms of economic or political or any other non-religious motives.

We stick to our position, namely, that it is the theology of Islam which offers the only straight-forward and
satisfactory explanation of why Muslim conquerors and rulers did what they did to Hindu places of
worship. We have provided full facts about that theology, as also about the history of how it took its final
shape. It would be most welcome if the professors come out with their comments on the character and
meaning of this theology. In fact, we look forward to a Marxist explanation of it. What were the concrete
material conditions and objective historical forces which gave rise to this theology in Arabia at that time?

Next, we refer to the second point which the professors had made in their letter to The Times of India. They
had said that ^acts of intolerance have been committed by followers of all religions^. A subsequent
sentence clarified what they meant; they had in mind the ^Buddhist and Iain monuments^ and ^animist

shrines destroyed by HindusAs we have said, we do not share their philosophy of separating the
Buddhists, the Jains and the Animists from the Hindus. But we agree to use their terms for the time being
and request them to produce

1. A list of epigraphs which record the destruction of Buddhist and Jain monuments and Animist shrines by
any Hindu, at any time;

2. Citations from Hindu literary sources describing destruction of Buddhist and Jain monuments and
Animist shrines by any Hindu, at any time;

3. The Hindu theology which says or even suggests that non-Hindu places of worship should be destroyed
or desecrated or plundered, or which hails such acts as pious or meritorious;

4. A list of Hindu kings or commanders whom Hindus have hailed as heroes for desecrating or destroying
or converting into Hindu places of worship any Buddhist or Jain monuments or Animist shrines;

5. A list of Buddhist and Jain monuments and Animist shrines which have been desecrated or destroyed or
converted into Hindu places of worship in the remote or the recent past;

6. The names and places of Hindu monuments which stand on the sites occupied earlier by Buddhist or Jain
monuments or Animist shrines, or which have materials from the latter embedded in their masonry;

7. Names of Buddhist, Jain and Animist leaders or organizations who have claimed that such and such
Hindu monuments are usurpations, and demanded their restoration to the original occupants;

8. Names of Hindu leaders and organizations who have resisted any demand made by Buddhists or Jains or
Animists for restoration of the latter^s places of worship, or called for legislation which will maintain the
status quo, or cried ^Hinduism in danger^, or staged street riots in support of their usurpations.

We think that this sort of concrete evidence alone cane decide ^the question of the limits to the logic of

restoration of religious sites There seems to be no other way. Sweeping generalizations based on slender
or dubious evidence are no substitute for hard facts.

We hope that the professors will not resort to the hackneyed swear-words such as ^Hindu

communal ism, ^ ^reactionary revivalism^, and the rest. Swear-words offer no solutions. In any case,
the time when swear-words carried weight has passed. It is no use inviting the other side to hit back in a
similar manner.

If the professors fail to come out with answers to questions posed by us, and to present the evidence in
support of their statements, we shall be forced to conclude that far from being serious academicians, they
are cynical politicians hawking ad hoc or plausible explanations in the service of a party line. In fact, we
shall be justified in saying that they are not Marxists but Stalinists. Marxism is a serious system of thought
which offers consistent explanations. Stalinism, on the other hand, is an exercise in suppressio veri
suggestio falsi in pursuit of a particular end.

Hindu scholars, leaders and organizations have so far ignored the loud and large-scale talk in the mass
media, academia, and political circles about ^ Hindu intolerance^ towards the Buddhists and the Jains
and the Animists. Much damage has already been done to the image of Hinduism, and much more damage
is likely to result if this talk is not challenged and stopped. How loose and irresponsible this talk can be is
illustrated by the following instance.

I attended a seminar on the Mandal Commission Report held in the Gandhi Peace Foundation in October,
1990. One of the participants who spoke in support of the Report was Shri Hukam Dev Narain Singh
Yadav, an MP of the Janata Dal at that time and a Minister in the Chandra Shekhar Government some time

later. Speaking of Brahminical tyranny, he referred to the time ^whcn rivers of the blood of Buddhist
monks were made to flow in the Buddhist monasteries (jab bauddha vihdron men bauddha bhikSuon ke
rakta ki nadiyan bahai gayi thin). The following dialogue took place between myself and the speaker at
the end of the latter^s talk:

I: Could you kindly name the Buddhist monasteries where it happened, and also the time when it
happened?

Speaker: I will not pretend that I know. I must have heard it from someone, or read it somewhere.

I: I give you six months for finding a single instance of Hindus murdering Buddhist monks. I am
demanding only one instance, not two.

Speaker: I will try.

The speaker looked to me to be one of the finest men I had ever met. His voice had a ring of sincerity in
whatever he said. His humility in presenting his point of view was more than exemplary. I expected him to
remember my question and provide an answer. But two and a half years have passed and there is no word
from the eminent politician occupying a high position in the public life of this country.

I know that the evidence demanded by me does not exist. It is a Big Lie being spread by Hindu-baiters.
Hindus have never done what they are being accused of. My only point in mentioning the incident is that
even honest people can become victims of hostile propaganda which is not countered in good time.

II

When the first edition of this book came out, I sent a copy of it to Professor Romila Thapar of the
Jawaharlal Nehru University in her capacity as the doyen of the Marxist historians. I also addressed to her
the following letter on 27 June, 1991:

❖I have posed a questionnaire for the school of historians which you lead. Please turn to pp. 438-441 of
my recently published book (Hindu Temples: What Happened to Them, Volume II: The Islamic Evidence),
a copy of which is being sent to you by registered post.

^ You may also read pp. 70-103 and p.i which also discuss the position of your school.

❖I am drawing your attention to these pages so that your school does not plead ignorance of them while
maintaining silence. Of course, you are free to ignore the questionnaire as coming from a person who has
had no standing in the academic world. I, however, feel that there are many people still left in this country

who care for truth more than for position.^

She was kind enough to reply by a letter dated 10 August 1991 which said:

Your letter of 27 June was awaiting me on my recent return to Delhi.

^ As regards the issues raised in the questionnaire included in your book, you are perhaps unaware of the
scholarly work on the subject discussed by a variety of historians of various schools of thought. May I
suggest that for a start, you might read my published lectures entitled, ^Cultural Transaction and Early
India

I wrote back on 31 August 1991, and stated my position as follows:

^>1 acknowledge your letter of August 10.

❖i wish you had refrained from striking the pose of superiority which has been for long the hallmark of
your school of historians. It does not go well with academic discipline.

^For your information I have been primarily a student of ancient Indians history and culture, and gone
through a good deal of source material, literary as well as archaeological. One of the reasons I have
wandered into Indians medieval and modern history is that I want to know what happened to Hindu
heritage at the hands of latter-day ^liberators

^May I request you not to suggest any further reading of your stuff? You threaten to do so when you use

the words ^>for a starts while recommending your present pamphlet. I am pretty familiar with the patent
lore.

Ol am sorry to say that your pamphlet has added nothing to my knowledge or perspective. The method of
selecting facts and floating fictions is very well known to me. Christian missionaries have done far better
with lesser fare.

❖I am not commenting on the various propositions put forward in your pamphlet. The Questionnaire
which I have addressed to you was framed in a particular context. In your letter published in The Times of
India dated October 2, 1986, you had stated that handing over of Sri Ramans and Sri Krishna^s

birthplaces to the Hindus, and of disused mosques to the Muslims Praises the question of the limits to the
logic of restoration of religious sites. How far back do we go? Can we push this to the restoration of
Buddhist and Jain monuments destroyed by Hindus? Or of the pre-Hindu animist shrines?^ In my book I
have welcomed the statement and said that ❖the question can be answered satisfactorily only when we are
prepared to face facts and a sense of proportion is restored ❖.

❖l have gone ahead and compiled historical and theological data about Islamic iconoclasm from whatever
Islamic sources I could lay my hands on during the last four years. More may follow as I get at more of this
source material. In an earlier volume I have provided, in a preliminary survey, a list of around two
thousands Muslim monuments which are known to stand on the sites of and/or have been built with the
materials of Buddhist, Brahmanical and Jain temples. The list is likely to get enlarged as I continue to look
into more archaeological reports.

❖l have also compiled a list of Buddhist and Jain monuments supposed to have been destroyed or usurped
by this or that Brahmanical sect, and Jain temples functioning at what were Brahmanical places of worship
at earlier dates. I am seeking your help to enlarge the list of Buddhist and Jain monuments which were
destroyed by those whom you call Hindus. Your writings and statements over the years go to show that you
specialize in this subject. What I am looking for in particular is the Hindu theology which inspires acts of
intolerance. I expect you to guide me to it.

❖My Questionnaire is not at all a challenge issued in a spirit of combat. It is only an appeal that sweeping
statements should now yield place to hard facts so that we know precisely as to who did what, when,
where, and under what inspiration. We should be in a position to compare the record of Islamic iconoclasm
with that of Hindu iconoclasm, and draw fair conclusions regarding the character and role of the two
religions. I for one am not interested in the restoration of religious sites, which I leave to the politicians.

❖it is nobody^s case that Hindu sects (in which I include Buddhists and Jains) did not use strong
language vis-a-vis each other. Every Brahmanical sect has used strong language about other Brahmanical
sects. So have the Buddhist, and the Jains, not only vis-a-vis Brahmanical sects but also about one another.
The situation gets much worse when it comes to the sub-sects, whether Buddhist or Brahmanical or Jain.
But strong language alone, whether in words or portrayals, is no evidence in the present context, unless it is
followed by overt acts of destruction or usurpation.

❖ Secondly, I fail to understand the logic of placing Buddhists and Jains on one side of the fence, and
Brahmanical sects on the other. What about Buddhists and Jains committing acts of intolerance vis-a-vis
one another? For a start, I refer you to the Mahavamsa which says that the Buddhist king, Vattagamini (29-
117 BC), destroyed a Jain vihara and built a Buddhist one on the same site. In the Sravana-Belgola Epitaph

of Mallishena, the renowned Jain teacher, Akalanka, says that ❖ i n the court of the glorious king
Himasitala, I overcame all crowds of Bauddhas, most of whom had a shrewd mind ( vidagdha-at-mano ),
and I broke the (image of) Sugata with my foot ( padena visphotitah ) ❖ (El. Ill, 192 for Sanskrit text and
201 for English translation). The instances can be multiplied.

❖Thirdly, I plead that presentation of evidence should not be an exercise in suppressio veri suggestio falsi.
Your one line summary (p. 18) of die Saiva inscription at Ablur is a case in pint. The inscription says clearly

(£7.111, 255) that the dispute arose because the Jains in a body tried to prevent a Saiva from worshipping his
own image, saying ^Jina is the (true) deity^X The Jains also undertook to ^p I lick up our Jina and set up

Si va^ if the Saiva devotee performed a miracle. And the Jains went back on their plighted word when the
miracle was shown. There was a quarrel and the Jina was broken by the Saivas. What is most significant,
the Jain king, Bijjala, decided in favour of the Saivas when the dispute was referred to him. He dismissed

the Jains, ^bidding them to go without saying further words'^. The story ends with the Jain king
showering favours on the Saivas.

^Dr. Fleet who has edited and translated this inscription along with four others found at the same place,
gives summaries of two Lingayat puranas and the Jain Bijjalacharitra, and points out that the story in this
inscription finds no support in the literary traditions of the two sects. Bijjal^s inscription dated AD 1162
discovered at Managoli (El. V, 9-23) also does not support the story. The fact that the Saiva inscription at
Ablur bears neither a date nor relates itself definitely to the reign of a king, makes it sound fishy. Authentic
inscriptions do not usually deal in miracles. Obviously, the Saivas seem to have used the endowment of a
Saiva temple in the Managoli inscription for mounting on it a story which was not related to any real events
but satisfied sectarian spite.

^Dr. Fleet has cited from the Lingayat sources to show that there was nothing Brahmanical about the
Lingayats. They harboured ^hostility to Brahmans^ (p.239) and their doctrines ^included the

persecution and extermination of all persons whose creed differed from that of the Lingayats^ (p.240).
Brahmanism in any shape or form should not be held responsible for the doings of this sect. There is
evidence that this sect drew its inspiration directly from Muslim missionaries who abounded on the West
Coast of India at the time it took shape.

^Incidentally, I have not been able to find anything relevant to the context in El. XXVIII. 1 which is
mentioned in footnote 14 on page 18 of your pamphlet, along with El. V.237. Is it a printing mistake?
Kindly give me the correct reference so that I may examine the incident and credit it to your account if it is
not already in my list. I hope it is not a case of strong language alone.

^Finally, I suggest that all cases of Brahmanical rulers building or endowing Buddhist and Jain temples,
and Buddhist and Jain rulers doing the same for Brahmanical temples, should also be compiled for
obtaining a total picture of the religious scene. You are very prompt in pointing out the few cases where
Hindu temples were endowed or built under Muslim patronage, whenever the large-scale destruction of
Hindu temples by Muslims is brought to your notice. Why do you always fail to point out the numerous
cases of Brahmanical patronage of Buddhism and Jainism, while listing the few cases of Brahmanical
persecution? If a few cases of Muslim patronage can atone for large-scale Islamic iconoclasm, the
numerous cases of Brahmanical patronage should be able to do the same for a few cases of Brahmanical

persecution. I hope I am not illogical. ^

I have not received even an acknowledgement of this letter from Professor Thapar, leave alone any
comments on the points raised by me. Her silence has left me sad, for I was looking forward to a fruitful
dialogue.

Ill

Lest Professor Thapar complains that in my letter to her I have not dealt with all instances of ❖ Hindu

intolerance ❖ mentioned in her pamphlet, I reproduce below the entire evidence she has presented. She
says:

❖The persecution of Buddhists in Kashmir is referred to by Hsiian Tsang, but, lest it be thought that he
being a Chinese Buddhist monk was prejudiced, the testimony of KalhaNa in the Rajatarangini should be
more acceptable. Hsiian Tsang refers to the atrocities of Mihirakula against the Buddhists both in Punjab
and in Kashmir in the sixth century AD. Hsiian Tsang may well have been exaggerating when he lists the
destruction of 1,600 Buddhist stupas and sanghdramas and the killing of many thousands of Buddhist
monks and lay-followers. KalhaNa gives an even fuller account of the king killing innocent people by the
hundreds. This is often dismissed by attributing the anti-Buddhist actions of Mihirakula to his being a

HuNa. But it should not be forgotten that he was also an ardent ❖ aiva and gave grants of land in the form
of agrahdras to the brahmans. In the words of KalhaNa: ❖Brahmans from Gandhara resembling himself in

their habits and verily themselves the lowest of the twice-born acceptedogra/zaras from him.^ It is
possible that the recently discovered stupa at Sanghol in Punjab, where sculpted railings were found in the
vicinity of a stupa dismantled and packed away, indicates this persecution of Buddhists in Kashmir and the

wilful destruction of a vihara, again by a ❖aivite king. But on this occasion the king repented and built a
new monastery for the Buddhist monks.

❖Courtly literature, particularly plays written after the seventh century AD, is replete with invective
against Buddhist and Jaina monks who are depicted as morally depraved, dishonest and altogether what one
might call the scum of the earth. Mahendravarman ❖s MaTTavilasa, a farce, is amongst the earliest plays.
In the MudrarakSasa of Vi^akhadatta, a constant refrain states that it is inauspicious to see a Jaina monk.
The,Prabodha-candrodaya of KRSNa Mi^ra, a drama of the eleventh century, dwells on the theme of a
Kapalika converting a Jaina and a Buddhist monk to ❖ aivism by offering them wine and women, both of

which they are said to hanker after. In the ❖ aiva temples at Khajuraho, Jaina monks, especially of
the digambara sect, are depicted in the worst possible erotic poses. Such references and depictions do not
amount to persecution but reflect a contemptuous attitude towards Jaina and Buddhist monks which they
would doubtless have found very galling, particularly as they occur in the literature and art of aristocratic

groups. The depiction of monks and ascetics as debauched may have been due to the court^s contempt for
a variety of ascetics, some of whom were associated with socially unacceptable practices. Such depictions
in courtly literature may also have been an attempt to play down the authority associated with renouncers
and ascetics in the popular mind. But it is significant that the Buddhists and Jainas are more commonly
made the subject of attack.

❖Evidence on the persecution of Jainas by ❖aiva sects comes from a variety of sources. The earliest
known cave temple originally dedicated by the Jainas in Tirunelveli district was, subsequently in the
seventh century, converted into a ❖aiva temple. This was not a case of appropriating the temple and
gradually changing it. Quite clearly, the Jaina images were either destroyed or erased, sometimes only
partially, and fresh ❖ aivite images carved in the same place. In the case of the partially erased sculpture it
is possible to recognize traces of the original. Where the image is totally gouged out the desecration is
visible.

❖The ❖ aivite saint Jnana Sambander is attributed with having converted the PaNDya ruler from Jainism
to ❖ avism, whereupon it is said that eight thousand Jainas were impaled by the king. This episode is

represented in painting and sculpture in medieval temples and is enacted to this day in some ^iva temples
during their annual festival. In later times, attempts were made to appease the Jainas by royal patrons
building Jaina, ^aiva and VaiSNava temples in close proximity. But in these areas the Jaina temples soon
fell into disrepair whilst the others flourished.

^►Such activities were not restricted to a particular area. The Jaina temples of Karnataka went through a

traumatic experience at the hands of the Lingayatas or Vira^aivas in the early second millennium AD.

This would explain in part why some Jaina texts have pejorative references to Basava, who founded the
Vtra^aiva sect. The Jaina temples at LakkuNDi were located in the proximity of an affluent agrahara and
the VaiSNava brahmans accepted Mahavira as an incarnation of Brahma. Later, however, one of the
temples was converted into a ^>aiva temple. At Huli, the temple of the five Jinas was converted into

a pancalinge &\’araf >aivite temple, the five lingas replacing the five Jina images in th esancta. Some other
Jaina temples suffered the same fate. An inscription at Ablur in Dharwar eulogizes attacks on Jaina temples
as retaliation for Jaina opposition to aivite worship. Sculpted panels at this site depict the smashing of
Jaina images. In the fourteenth century the harassment of Jainas was so acute that they had to appeal for
protection to the ruling power at Vijayanagara.

^Inscriptions of the sixteenth century from the Srisailam area of Andhra Pradesh record the pride taken by

Vira^aiva chiefs in beheadingsvefambara Jainas. The local records of this area refer to the frequent
persecution of the Jainas. In Gujarat, Jainism flourished during the reign of Kumarapala, but his successor
persecuted the Jainas and destroyed their temples. However, Jainism was so well-established here that

periodical persecution did not really shake it^k

She sums up: 4Ht is historically important to know why this persecution of the Buddhists and Jainas
occurred in particular by the ^aivas. I can only offer a few comments. At the religious level, it may have

had to do with asceticism. Was ^iva seen as the ascetic par excellence and the patron deity of ascetics, and
were Buddhist and Jaina monks seen as imposters? Did Buddhist and Jaina monks find the worship of
the Zingaraoffensive owing to the puritanism inherent in both these systems? Yet the Tantric versions of
these systems conceded to practices and ideas which were opposed to puritanism. If the hostility related
only to religious differences, then it should have surfaced earlier in time. It is interesting that it begins
about the middle of the first millennium AD and gains force through the centuries until Buddhism
eventually fled the country and Jainism was effectively limited to a few pockets. The persecution predates
the coming of Islam to these areas, so that the convenient excuse that Islamic persecution caused the

decline of these religions is not applicable.^"

Interestingly, she has refrained from mentioning the persecution of Buddhists by Pu^yamitra Auriga and

^►a^anka of GauDa, and the melting of idols by king Harsha of Kashmir, which had so far figured most
prominently in the writings of her school. I wonder whether she has realized that those allegations have no
legs to stand upon, even though others of her school continue to harp on them. In any case, it may be
assumed that her present list has exhausted the entire stock-in-trade in the Marxist shop on the subject of

^Hindu intolerance^. I will deal with these instances, one by one.

1. She has suppressed the fact, stated by Huen Tsang, that Mihirakula had requested the Buddhist Sangha to
teach him the tenets of Buddhism. The Sangha did not assign the task to a qualified teacher but sent a monk
who had the rank of a servant. Mihirakula felt outraged at this insult and persecuted the Buddhists. It is

highly doubtful if this HuNa tyrant had become a ^aiva. KalhaNa sees him only as a HuNa extending
patronage to bad BrahmaNas. But even if he had, his fury had nothing to do with ^aivism. On the

contrary, it was the fury of a tyrant whose ego had been hurt. Kashmir had known many ^aiva kings
before Mihirakula as well as after him. None of them is known to have persecuted the Buddhists. In fact,
most of them are known to have been patrons of Buddhism. The only instance she cites is that of a king
who repented and rebuilt the vihara which he had pulled down in a fit of anger. We should welcome a
similar instance of some Muslim ruler who repented and rebuilt the temple he had demolished. The
difference arises because while it was a temporary lapse on the part of the Kashmiran king, Muslim rulers
were inspired by a permanently prescribed theology.

2. Dragging in the unfinished stupa at Sangol in this context is totally unwarranted. No archaeologist has
said that the stupawas ^dismantled and packed away^. All that is known is that many stones had been
finished, and were meant to be parts of a stupa. But no one knows for sure why they were left in pits and
trenches. It is no more than a speculation that perhaps a HuNa invasion was feared. No other archaeologist

or historian has surmised that Mihirakula was leading this invasion, and that he inspired fear as a ^>aiva. In
any case. Professor Thapar is the first to say that this represents a case of persecution of the Buddhists by a
^►aiva king. Her obssession has scored over her scruples.

3. The instances of Buddhist and Iain monks being made the subject of invectives in Sanskrit literature
does not prove anything. Professor Thapar has herself stated in her present pamphlet that the Jain

book Paumacarya denounces the BrahmaNas as ^heretics and preachers of false doctrines who acquired

their status through fraud.Shall we say that th tPaumacarya invites the Jains to persecute the
BrahmaNas? I can cite many instances where the BrahmaNas have been abused in Buddhist and Jain
literature in worse language. But I will not accuse the Buddhists and Jains of persecution of the
BrahmaNas. And what about Buddhists and Jains hurling invectives on one another? Shall we say that
Buddhists persecuted the Jains, and vice versa.

4. The persecution of Jains in the PaNDya country by some ^aivas had nothing to do with ^aivism as
such, but was an expression of a nationalist conflict which I will relate shortly. What I want to point out
first is that most of the royal dynasties which ruled in India, after the breakdown of the Gupta Empire and

before the advent of Islamic invaders, were ^aiva-Maukharis, PuSyabhutis, Gurjara-Pratiharas, and
GahaDavaDs of Kanyakubja; Vakatakas of Nandivardhana and Vatsagulma; Pallavas of Kanchipuram;
Cholas of Tanjore; Chalukyas of Vatapi, KalyaNa, and Vengi; PaNDuvaM^is of Kosala and Mekala;
Kalachuris of MahiSmati and Tripun; RashtrakuTas of ManyakheTa; Maitrakas of Valabhi; Guhilots of
Mewar; ChahmaNas of Sakambhaii, NaDDula and Jalor; Turk! and Hindu Shahis of Kabul, Zabul and
UdbhaNDapura; KarkoTas and Utpalas of Kashmir; Tomaras of Haryana and Delhi; Parmaras of Malwa
and Abu; Chaulukyas of Gujarat; Yadvas of Maharashtra; Kakatiyas of Andhra Pradesh; HoySalas of
Karnataka; Chandellas of Kalinjara - to recount only the most prominent of them. The Jains are known to
have flourished everywhere; not a single instance of the Jains being persecuted under any of these dynasties
is known. The instance she mentions from Gujarat was only the righting of a wrong which the Jains had
committed under Kumarapala. Professor Thapar does not mention the Jain high-handedness which had
preceded.

The conflict between the Jains and the ^aivas in the PaNDya country has been dealt with in detail by M.
Arunachalam in a monograph published eight years before Professor Thapar delivered the lectures which
comprise her pamphlet.- He has proved conclusively, with the help of epigraphic and literary evidence, that
the Kalabhara invaders from Karnataka had occupied Tamil Nadu for 300 years (between AD 250 and
550), and that they subscribed to the Digambara sect of Jainism.- It so happened that some of the Kalabhara

princes were guided by a few narrow-minded Jain ascetics, and inflicted injuries on some ^aiva and
VaiSNava saints and places of worship. They also took away the agrahdras which BrahmaNas had enjoyed
in earlier times.- And a reaction set in when the Kalabharas were overthrown. The new rulers who rose

subscribed to ^avisim. It was then that the Jains were persecuted in some places, and some Jain places to
worship were taken over by the ^aivas under the plea that these were ^>aiva places in the earlier period.

But the reaction was confined to the PaNDya country. Jainism continued to flourish in northern Tamil
Nadu which also had been invaded by the Kalabharas, where also the ^aivas and VaiSNavas had been
molested by the Jains, and where also the ^aivas had come to power once again. It is significant that
though Buddhists also invite invectives in the same ^aiva literature, no instance of Buddhists being

persecuted is recorded. That was because Buddhists had never harmed the ^aivas. It is also significant that
the VaiSNavas of Tamil Nadu show no bitterness against the Jains though they had also suffered under
Kalabhara rule.

In any case. Professor Thapar should have mentioned the persecution of ^aivas practised earlier by the

PaNDya king who was a Jain to start with, and who later on converted to ^aivism and persecuted the
Jains. This is another instance of suppressio vari suggestio falsi practised very often by her school.
Obviously, these persecutions had nothing to do with either Jainism or ^aivism, and were no more than
the expressions of a king^s personal predisposition.

Interestingly, the Persecution of Jains in the PaNDya country finds mention only in ^aiva literature, and is
not corroborated by Jain literature of the same or subsequent period. Specialists of South Indians history

such as K.A.N. Sastri have dismissed the whole story as a ^aiva braggadocio without any basis in fact.

The atrocities of the Islamic invaders, on the other hand, find mention not only in Muslim histories but also
in contemporary Hindu literature. At any rate, these few instances cannot overshadow the fact that Jains

and ^aivas have lived in perfect amity for a very long time, and over large areas. What is more important,

neither Jains nor ^aivas have any theology sanctioning persecution of people belonging to other religious
persuasions. Aberrations should be seen as aberrations, unless we are out to make mountains out of
molehills.

5. As regards her statement that ^Buddhism eventually fled the country and Jainism was effectively

confined to few pockets^ as a result of Hindu persecution in pre-Islamic days, one simply feels
flabbergasted in the face of such colossal ignorance on the part of a professor of history. As regards
Buddhism, we are quoting what Dr. B.R. Ambedkar has to say on the subject. After observing that the

Persian word &but & meaning &idol & is derived from Buddha , He writes: ^Thus the origin of the word
indicates that in the Muslim mind idol worship had come to be identified with the religion of Buddha. To
the Muslims they were one and the same thing. The mission to break idols thus became the mission to
destroy Buddhism. Islam destroyed Buddhism not only in India but wherever it went. Bactria, Parthia,

Afghanistan, Gandhara and Chinese Turkestanin all these countries Islam destroyed Buddhism.^- More
precisely: ^The Muslim invaders sacked the Buddhist universities of Nalanda [etc.] ^ They razed to the
ground Buddhist monasteries with which the country was studded. The monks fled away in thousands^ A
very large number were killed outright by the Muslim commanders.^- D.D. Kosambi, a historian of her
own Marxist school, confirms that Nalanda was sacked ^>by a handful of Muslim raiders under

Mohammed bin Bakhtyar Khalji ^ about AD 1200^ and that 4Hhe tremendous complex at Sarnath which
had grown up on the site of the first Buddhist sermon was wrecked beyond recovery, thus ending a
continuous tradition of refuge and meeting-place for ascetics which went back to the centuries before

Buddha.

She would do well to read some histories of Buddhism and Jainism in this country to know that 1)
Buddhism was flourishing all over the country when the Islamic invaders arrived on the scene; 2) both
Buddhism and Jainism were being patronised by kings whom the Marxist lable as Hindus; 3) Buddhist
monks fled to Nepal and Tibet only after thousands of them were massacred, and their monasteries
destroyed by the Islamic marauders; 4) Buddhism continued to flourish all over Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra, and Karnataka till attacked by the armies of Islam in the fourteenth century; 5) Buddhism did
not survive the Islamic assault because, unlike Brahmanism and Jainism, it was centred round monasteries
and monks; 6) Jainism has continued to flourish till today all over north India, Karnataka, Maharashtra and
Gujarat as it did in the pre-Islamic period, in spite of prolonged Islamic persecution; and 7) there is
evidence of a large number of Jain temples being destroyed in the Muslim invasions of southern Bihar and
Jharkhand as well as of western and northern Bengal, during the thirteenth and subsequent centuries.

It is nobody ^>s case that there was never any conflict among the sects and sub-sects of Sanatana Dharma.
Some instances of persecution were indeed there. Our plea is that they should be seen in a proper
perspective, and not exaggerated in order to whitewash or counter-balance the record of Islamic
intolerance. Firstly, the instances are few and far between when compared to those listed in Islamic annals.
Secondly, those instances are spread over several millennia while the fourteen centuries of Islam stand
crowded with religious crimes of all sorts. Thirdly, none of those instances were inspired by a theology,
while in the case of Islam a theology of intolerance has continued to question the character of Muslim kings
who happened to be tolerant. Fourthly, Jains were not always the victims of persecution; they were
persecutors as well once in a while. Lastly, no king or commander or saint who showed intolerance has
been a Hindu hero, while Islam has hailed as heroes only those characters who excelled in intolerance.

It is not an accident that Professor Thapar^s pamphlet consists of I. H. Qureishi Memorial Lecture, 1987,

delivered in the St. Stephen's College, Delhi. Ishdaq Husain Qureishi was a professor of medieval Indian
history in this college when I was a student in another college of the same university. He was a well-known
intellectual of the Muslim League and famous for floating the proposition that Hindus were far better off
under Muslim rule than they were under that of their own princes in pre-Islamic India. He migrated to

Pakistan after Partition, and was that country's Minister of Education for a term. He functioned, to the
end of his life, as an apologist of Islamic imperialism as is evident from the numerous works of
^research^ he wrote or guided. One can hardly expect proper knowledge or perspective from
^professors'^ who are patronized by such platforms.

Footnotes:

- Cultural Transaction and Early India: Tradition and Patronage , Oxford University Press, Delhi,
1987, pp. 16-18.

2 Ibid., p. 19.

2 Ibid., P. 15.

- The Kalabharas in the Pandiya country and their Impact on the Life and Letters there.

University of Madras, 1979.

- Ibid., pp. 29-34.

- Ibid., pp. 95-100.

- Writings and Speeches, published by the Government of Maharashtra, Volume 3. p. 229 (in the
Chapter ^The Decline and Fall of Buddhism.^)

- Ibid., pp. 229-30.

- The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India, New Delhi, 1984, p. 18.

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